{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T05:10:31Z","timestamp":1788844231494,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The accessory olfactory system regulates social and reproductive behaviours in mice that are essential for survival. Proper function of this system depends on the accurate mapping of chemosensory information detected by vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) into glomerular activation patterns. The formation of glomerular maps requires members of the Kirrel family of cell adhesion proteins, which mediate the coalescence of VSN axons into glomeruli. Disruption of Kirrel3 function, either through genetic deletion (\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212\/\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    ) or by impairing its homophilic interaction via a single amino acid substitution (\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    ), disrupts axonal glomerular map formation. Here, we compared the performance of the\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice to\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212\/\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice in behavioural assays involving social interactions. Similar to\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212\/\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice,\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    male mice exhibited reduced male\u2013male aggression in the resident-intruder assay. Female\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice lacked maternal aggression, although other maternal behaviors, including pup retrieval and nesting, remained intact. Urine preference assays revealed increased detection thresholds to both male and female urine in\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice, indicating reduced vomeronasal sensitivity. However, response to non-social attractive and aversive odorants were unaffected. Notably, social novelty behavior was impaired in\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>\u2212\/\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice but preserved in\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Kirrel3\n                      <jats:sup>Q128A<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    mice. Taken together, these results demonstrate that loss of Kirrel3-mediated adhesion is sufficient to recapitulate key deficits in vomeronasal function and VNO-dependent behaviors observed in Kirrel3 null mice, while selectively sparing certain aspects of social behavior.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fncel.2026.1926504","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T04:26:10Z","timestamp":1788841570000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Kirrel3 homophilic adhesion function is required for male-directed aggression and vomeronasal acuity to urine chemosignals"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Sydney","family":"Fearnley","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Neuro","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]},{"name":"Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Neelima","family":"Vaddadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Neuro","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]},{"name":"Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emilie","family":"Dumontier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Neuro","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois","family":"Cloutier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Neuro","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]},{"name":"Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]},{"name":"Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University","place":["Montr\u00e9al, QC, Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"875","DOI":"10.1016\/0031-9384(89)90209-6","article-title":"Vomeronasal organ removal and female mouse aggression: the role of experience","volume":"45","author":"Bean","year":"1989","journal-title":"Physiol. 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