ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2011
Detection and avoidance of a carnivore odor by prey.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 175 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
175 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 350 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Transcriptional regulation of the main olfactory epithelium by environmental olfactory exposures.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Simultaneous detection and estimation in olfactory sensing.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Genome-wide identification, expression analysis of taars (trace amine-associated receptors) and response to cadaverine and putrescine in Mandarin fish (Siniperca chuatsi).BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Hydrogen sulfide as a potent predator-derived kairomone mediating fear-related responses in mice.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Foxg1 and Retinoic Acid Signaling Regulate Zonal Patterning in the Developing Olfactory Epithelium.Development, growth & differentiation · 2025Article
- Chemosensory Receptors in Vertebrates: Structure and Computational Modeling Insights.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Behavioral, Endocrine, and Neuronal Responses to Odors in Lampreys.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- TAAR8 in the Brain: Implications for Dopaminergic Function, Neurogenesis, and Behavior.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- First evidence of an anxiety-like behavior and its pharmacological modulation in a molluscan model organism, Lymnaea stagnalis.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Tachykinin-1-expressing parasubthalamic nucleus neurons are necessary for odorant-induced appetite suppression.Physiology & behavior · 2025Article
- Physical and biological effects on moths' navigation performance.Movement ecology · 2025Article
- Olfactory GPCRs through the lens of structural bioinformatics.Chemical senses · 2025Review
- Deorphanization of Olfactory Trace Amine-Associated Receptors.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Behavioral and neurobiological implications of kairomones for rodents: an updated review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Quantifying spectral information about source separation in multisource odour plumes.PloS one · 2025Article
- Finding food: how generalist predators use contact-chemosensory information to guide prey preferences.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Early life seizures and olfactory communication in rats.Epilepsia · 2024Article
115 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Predator-prey relationships provide a classic paradigm for the study of innate animal behavior. Odors from carnivores elicit stereotyped fear and avoidance responses in rodents, although sensory mechanisms involved are largely unknown. Here, we identified a chemical produced by predators that activates a mouse olfactory receptor and produces an innate behavioral response. We purified this predator cue from bobcat urine and identified it to be a biogenic amine, 2-phenylethylamine. Quantitative HPLC analysis across 38 mammalian species indicates enriched 2-phenylethylamine production by numerous carnivores, with some producing >3,000-fold more than herbivores examined. Calcium imaging of neuronal responses in mouse olfactory tissue slices identified dispersed carnivore odor-selective sensory neurons that also responded to 2-phenylethylamine. Two prey species, rat and mouse, avoid a 2-phenylethylamine odor source, and loss-of-function studies involving enzymatic depletion of 2-phenylethylamine from a carnivore odor indicate it to be required for full avoidance behavior. Thus, rodent olfactory sensory neurons and chemosensory receptors have the capacity for recognizing interspecies odors. One such cue, carnivore-derived 2-phenylethylamine, is a key component of a predator odor blend that triggers hard-wired aversion circuits in the rodent brain. These data show how a single, volatile chemical detected in the environment can drive an elaborate danger-associated behavioral response in mammals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.