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The cilia of olfactory sensory neurons(OSNs)are specialized for transducing and encoding odor information.Various ciliary proteins mediate and/or modulate olfactory signal transduction.We detected a novel protein,Q8BH53,from a proteomic screen of murine OSN cilial membrane preparations.Q8BH53 is conserved among eukaryotes and is a unique protein,as no paralogs exist in the mouse genome.Bioinformatic analysis suggested that the majority of Q8BH53 sequence is composed of ARM-domains,which mediate protein-protein interactions.Knocking out Q8BH53 specifically in OSNs alters kinetics of the olfactory response,as assayed bythe electroolfactogram.Mice that lack Q8BH53 showa faster and more transient electroolfactograph to brief odorant stimulation,with both a faster rising phase and a faster falling phase.In single cell recordings,OSNs that lack Q8BH53 display some of the similar kinetic alterations and also recover the ability to fire action potentials to a second stimulus faster.Interestingly,Q8BH53 conditional mutants perform poorly in more demanding behavioral assays,demonstrating that proper kinetics of the OSN response are critical for olfactory behavior.Together,we identify a novel protein,Q8BH53,that functions to modulate olfactory transduction kinetics by “slowing down” the olfactory response and contributesto proper olfactory behavior.