Gene expression profiling of vomeronasal organ in Cnpy1 knockout and wildtype mice.

How vomeronasal GPCRs detect chemo-signals important for innate social and reproductive behaviors, requires understanding the molecular and cellular diversification accompanying VSN differentiation from a stem cell population.

Here, we identify mouse Cnpy1 as a novel VNO specific ER chaperone, with expression restricted to Gαo VSNs. Absence of Cnpy1 leads to reduced neuronal activation, behavioral defects and a substantial loss of neurons by apoptosis during postnatal development. Co-immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry, identified specific interactions of Cnpy1 with V2R GPCRs along with other ER chaperones.