Patent ID: 7138242

Claim:
A method of determining whether a test compound binds to a mammalian olfactory receptor comprising the following steps: (i). expressing a nucleic acid under conditions permissive for translation of the nucleic acid to a receptor polypeptide, wherein the nucleic acid encodes a 7-transmembrane polypeptide that can transverse a plasma membrane seven times and wherein the nucleic acid comprises the following domains in 5′ to 3′ order: a nucleic acid encoding an amino terminal plasma membrane translocation domain as shown in SEQ ID NO: 3; a nucleic acid encoding a first transmembrane domain as shown in residues 2 1–79 of SEQ ID NO: 55; and a nucleic acid encoding an olfactory receptor ligand-binding region as shown in SEQ ID NO: 48; (ii). contacting the translated polypeptide with the test compound; and (iii). determining whether the test compound binds to the polypeptide.