Body odour preferences in men and women: do they aim for specific MHC combinations or simply heterozygosity?
Body odour preferences in men and women: do they aim for specific MHC combinations or simply heterozygosity?
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rspb.1997.0204
复制
发表时间：
1997-10-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Furi, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wedekind, C;Furi, S
主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）是一组重要的免疫基因，似乎是在自然和性选择。一些假说表明，某些MHC-等位基因组合（通常是杂合的）在病原体的选择压力下是上级的。这可能会影响配偶选择的方式，偏好的功能，以创造MHC杂合子后代，或他们的功能，以创造特定的等位基因组合，是有益的，在当前的环境条件下，通过其互补或上位效应。为了验证这些假设，我们让121名男性和女性对两名女性和四名男性穿的六件T恤的气味进行评分。他们的愉悦感得分与未服用避孕药的男性和女性（但不包括服用避孕药的人）的气味和穿着T恤的人之间的MHC相似程度呈负相关。根据T恤穿着者的不同，由MHC相似度（r（2））解释的气味舒适度评分的变化量在0和23%之间变化。这种相关性没有明显的性别效应：最高的r（2）实际上是男性嗅闻者闻到的一种男性气味。当男性和女性闻到T恤时，他们会想起自己的伴侣/前伴侣，他们与这件T恤穿着者的MHC等位基因的共同点比预期的要少。这表明MHC或相关基因影响人类的配偶选择。在对穿着T恤的人和嗅觉者之间的相似程度进行统计控制后，我们测试了MHC对气味偏好的影响，没有发现显著的效果。这表明在我们的研究人群中，MHC主要（如果不是唯一的话）通过相似或相异的程度影响体味偏好。观察到的偏好将增加后代的杂合性。他们似乎并没有针对更具体的MHC组合。
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is an immunologically important group of genes that appears to be under natural as well as sexual selection. Several hypotheses suggest that certain MHC-allele combinations (usually heterozygous ones) are superior under selective pressure by pathogens. This could influence mate choice in a way that preferences function to create MHC-heterozygous offspring, or that they function to create specific allele combinations that are beneficial under the current environmental conditions through their complementary or epistatic effects. To test these hypotheses, we asked 121 men and women to score the odours of six T-shirts, worn by two women and four men. Their scorings of pleasantness correlated negatively with the degree of MHC similarity between smeller and T-shirt-wearer in men and women who were not using the contraceptive pill (but not in Pill-users). Depending on the T-shirt-wearer the amount of variance in the scorings of odour pleasantness that was explained by the degree of MHC similarity (r(2)) varied between nearly 0 and 23%. There was no apparent effect of gender in this correlation: the highest r(2) was actually reached with one of the male odours sniffed by male smellers. Men and women who were reminded of their own mate/ex-mate when sniffing a T-shirt had significantly fewer MHC-alleles in common with this T-shirt-wearer than expected by chance. This suggests that the MHC or linked genes influence human mate choice. We found no significant effect when we tested for an influence of the MHC on odour preferences after the degree of similarity between T-shirt-wearer and smeller was statistically controlled for. This suggests that in our study populations the MHC influences body odour preferences mainly, if not exclusively, by the degree of similarity or dissimilarity. The observed preferences would increase heterozygosity in the progeny. They do not seem to aim for more specific MHC combinations.