Olfactory signaling is initiated by interactions between odorants and olfactory receptors. We show that the C. elegans odr-10 gene is likely to encode a receptor for the odorant diacetyl. odr-10 mutants have a specific defect in chemotaxis to diacetyl, one of several odorants detected by the AWA olfactory neurons. odr-10 encodes a predicted seven transmembrane domain receptor; a green fluoresce...

Diacetyl, a suspected cause of respiratory disorders in some food and flavorings manufacturing workers, is also a natural component of roasted coffee. We characterized diacetyl exposures that would plausibly occur in a small coffee shop during the preparation and consumption of unflavored coffee. Personal (long- and short-term) and area (long-term) samples were collected while a barista ground ...

Olfactory systems sense and respond to various odorants. Olfactory receptors, which in most organisms are G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein)-coupled receptors, directly bind volatile or soluble odorants. Compared to the genomes of mammals, the genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans contains more putative olfactory receptor genes, suggesting that in nematodes th...

Efficient violet-blue-emitting molecules are especially useful for applications in full-color displays, solid-state lighting, as well as in two-photon absorption (TPA) excited frequency-upconverted violet-blue lasing. However, the reported violet-blue-emitting molecules generally possess small TPA cross sections. In this work, new 1,8-diazapyrenes derivatives 3 with blue two-photon-excited fluo...

Over the last decade, concerns have been raised about potential respiratory health effects associated with occupational exposure to the flavoring additives diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione. Both of these diketones are also natural components of many foods and beverages, including roasted coffee. To date, there are no published studies characterizing workplace exposures to these diketones during co...

Almost all enzymes capable of decarboxylating pyruvate have been shown to catalyze DPT’-dependent condensation reactions yielding acyloins such as AMC (l-7). Recent work of Schweet and coworkers (8) has demonstrated that in animal tissues these condensations are due to the activity of pyruvic oxidase. Purified preparations of pyruvic oxidase from pigeon breast muscle have the same ratio of acyl...

Many animal species change their behavior according to their stage of development. However, the mechanisms involved in translating their developmental stage into the modifications of the neuronal circuits that underlie these behavioral changes remain unknown. Here we show that Caenorhabditis elegans changes its olfactory preferences during development. Larvae exhibit a weak chemotactic response...

In our research, new bis-α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (Z2-Z4) were prepared via Claisen- Schmidt reaction, by the condensation of 2,6-dimethyl-3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydropyridine (Z1) with different appropriate benzaldehyde, like (benzaldehyde, m-nitro benzaldehyde and o-chloro benzaldehyde) using 10% aqueous sodium hydroxide as a base. A simple efficient method has been applied for synthes...