OSM-9 also known as OSMotic avoidance abnormal family member 9 is a protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 which in the nematode

Nematode

The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...

 worm C. elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode , about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model...

is encoded by the osm-9 gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

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Function

The OSM-9 protein is required for some olfactory

Olfaction

Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...

 and osmotic

Osmosis

Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, aiming to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides...

 stimuli as well as a mechanosensory

Mechanoreceptor

A mechanoreceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. There are four main types in the glabrous skin of humans: Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel's discs, and Ruffini corpuscles...

 response to nose touch. This protein encodes a protein with ankyrin repeat

Ankyrin repeat

The ankyrin repeat is a 33-residue motif in proteins consisting of two alpha helices separated by loops, first discovered in signaling proteins in yeast Cdc10 and Drosophila Notch. Ankyrin repeats mediate protein–protein interactions and are among the most common structural motifs in known proteins...

s and is closely related in sequence to the mammalian TRPV

TRPV

TRPV is a family of transient receptor potential ion channels. These channels are selective for calcium and magnesium over sodium ions. Like other members of the TRP superfamily, TRPV channels can be activated through seemingly disparate mechanisms...

 ion channels. OSM-9 controls the biosynthesis of serotonin

Serotonin

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...

 via regulation of the expression of the enzyme tryptophan hydroxylase

Tryptophan hydroxylase

Tryptophan hydroxylase is an enzyme involved in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin. TPH catalyzes the following chemical reactionIt employs one cofactor, iron.- Function :...

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