TY - JOUR TI - Semiochemical responsive olfactory sensory neurons are sexually dimorphic and plastic AU - Vihani, Aashutosh AU - Hu, Xiaoyang Serene AU - Gundala, Sivaji AU - Koyama, Sachiko AU - Block, Eric AU - Matsunami, Hiroaki A2 - Kimchi, Tali A2 - Dulac, Catherine A2 - Lomvardas, Stavros VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/11/24 SP - e54501 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e54501 DO - 10.7554/eLife.54501 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.54501 AB - Understanding how genes and experience work in concert to generate phenotypic variability will provide a better understanding of individuality. Here, we considered this in the main olfactory epithelium, a chemosensory structure with over a thousand distinct cell types in mice. We identified a subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons, defined by receptor expression, whose abundances were sexually dimorphic. This subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons was over-represented in sex-separated mice and robustly responsive to sex-specific semiochemicals. Sex-combined housing led to an attenuation of the dimorphic representations. Single-cell sequencing analysis revealed an axis of activity-dependent gene expression amongst a subset of the dimorphic OSN populations. Finally, the pro-apoptotic gene Baxwas necessary to generate the dimorphic representations. Altogether, our results suggest a role of experience and activity in influencing homeostatic mechanisms to generate a robust sexually dimorphic phenotype in the main olfactory epithelium. KW - semiochemical KW - olfaction KW - sex differences KW - plasticity KW - olfactory receptor KW - pheromone JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -