Expression of Trace Amine-Associated Receptors in the Murine and Human Hippocampus Based on Public Transcriptomic Data

Abstract

Hippocampus is one of the neurogenic zones where adult neurogenesis takes place. This process is quite complex and has a multicomponent regulation. A family of G protein-coupled trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) was discovered only in 2001, and most of them (TAAR2-TAAR9) were primarily considered olfactory. Recent studies have shown, however, that they are also expressed in the mouse brain, particularly in limbic formations, and can play a role in the regulation of emotional behaviors. The observations in knockout mice indicate that at least two members of the family, TAAR2 and TAAR5, have an impact on the regulation of adult neurogenesis. In the present study, we analyzed the expression of TAARs in the murine and human hippocampus using public RNAseq datasets. Our results indicate a low but detectable level of certain TAARs expression in the hippocampal cells in selected high-quality transcriptomic datasets from both mouse and human samples. At the same time, we observed the difference between humans, where TAAR6 expression was the highest, and murine samples, where TAAR1, TAAR2, TAAR3, TAAR4 and TAAR5 are more pronouncedly expressed. These observations provide further support to the data gained in knockout mice, indicating a role of TAARs in the regulation of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus.