Theoretical investigation of human olfactory receptor OR8D1 activated by two key food odorants

Abstract A monolayer model with three energies, developed based on statistical physics, was applied to analyze the adsorption mechanisms of sotolone and abhexone on the human olfactory receptor OR8D1. The first type of binding site played a dominant role in this food odorant mechanism, with OR8D1 binding sites arranged in non-parallel orientations, indicating a multimolecular process. Molar adsorption energies associated with the three types of binding sites, ranging from 23.75 to 32.97 kJ mol − 1 , demonstrated that the food odorants were physically and exothermically adsorbed on the human OR8D1 receptor.