The NAOMI (Nasal Odorant Metabolites) consortium: an international, multidisciplinary consortium investigating how metabolites resulting from nasal enzymatic odorant metabolism can shape odor perception

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Английский. A functional sense of smell is essential for evaluating and enjoying food, receiving information about conspecifics, and detecting threats via airborne chemical cues. Olfactory dysfunction has been associated with an impaired quality of life, reflected by a higher incidence of undesirable mental states such as depression and social insecurity. Addressing and overcoming related olfactory dysfunction issues require a detailed understanding of peripheral and central processes involved in olfaction. Consequently, there is a growing body of research unravelling molecular and cellular interactions that shape olfactory sensation. Recent studies have demonstrated that in the nasal mucosa odorants are biotransformed by metabolizing enzymes into metabolites that themselves have signaling properties. In addition, the demonstration that metabolites synthesis is very fast (hundreds of millisecond range) supports a potential functional impact of these odorous metabolites on olfactory perception. Therefore, an advanced characterization of this hitherto neglected mechanism could radically change our understanding of olfactory perception.The underlying enzymatic processes involved in nasal odorant biotransformation have been investigated for few odorants, to date, and knowledge on the odor characteristics of nasal volatile metabolites is very limited. Here, we present the international consortium “NAOMI” which combines different expertises to explore the formation, the identity, and the sensory properties of volatile odorant metabolites through complementary studies in animal and cellular models, as well as human sensory approaches. The aim is to gain a comprehensive understanding of how aroma and odor perception is shaped by nasal metabolic products. NAOMI brings together multi-disciplinary skills ranging from clinical expertise in Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (Hackenberg) and airway tissue engineering (Steinke), over molecular biology/enzymology (Heydel, Le Quéré, Neiers, Reynaud, Thomas-Danguin) to aroma chemistry and sensory evaluation (Buettner, Kornbausch, Loos, Thomas-Danguin). Comprising both the detailed characterization of molecular processes as well as of sensory correlates, the NAOMI consortium aims to better understand how molecular enzymatic mechanisms shape olfactory perception. This project is supported by ANR and DFG.