Network-Based Identification of Hub Olfactory Receptor Proteins in Human PPI Networks

Olfaction, the sense of smell plays a pivotal role in human perception and behaviour, yet very little is known about the molecular processes and mechanism underlying odor recognition and detection. Olfactory receptors, which belong to the G-protein coupled receptor family, are essential for identifying and differentiating between a wide range of odorants. A deeper comprehension of the roles, interactions, and signaling cascades of olfactory receptor may help in the identification of new olfactory targets via complex interactions. Moreover, the mechanism of olfaction in humans remains relatively understudied compared to other senses. Most of the studies have only focused on a single gene or protein related to the human olfactory system. This study investigated key proteins found in the human olfactory system using Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) networks. Ontology analysis and graph-based approaches uncovered several hub proteins, of which OR2C1 emerged as the top protein with the highest score in each category.