Titre du document / Document title

Body odor similarity in noncohabiting twins

Auteur(s) / Author(s)

ROBERTS S. Craig ⁽¹⁾ ; GOSLING L. Morris ⁽¹⁾ ; SPECTOR Tim D. ⁽²⁾ ; MILLER Paul ⁽¹⁾ ; PENN Dustin J. ⁽³⁾ ; PETRIE Marion ⁽¹⁾ ;

Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)

⁽¹⁾ School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, ROYAUME-UNI
⁽²⁾ Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, ROYAUME-UNI
⁽³⁾ Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Vienna, AUTRICHE

Résumé / Abstract

There is currently considerable interest in biometric approaches using human odor as a marker of disease or genetic individuality. Body odor is also thought to be used during mate choice to select genetically compatible mates. The idea that body odor reveals information about both genetic identity and genetic similarity is most readily tested by examining odor in twin pairs. However, although this idea can be traced back 130 years to Francis Galton in 1875, most studies using dogs fail to control for shared environmental effects associated with cohabitation. Here we show that odors of identical twins (but not dizygotic twins) can be matched by human sniffers at rates better than chance, even when the twins are living apart. In addition, matching frequencies for identical twin odors were not significantly different from those for duplicate odors from the same individual. These results indicate an important genetic influence on body odor and the potential for developing technologies for human odor printing in relation to underlying genotype.

Revue / Journal Title

Chemical senses   ISSN 0379-864X   CODEN CHSED8 

Source / Source

2005, vol. 30, n^o8, pp. 651-656 [6 page(s) (article)] (47 ref.)

Langue / Language

Anglais

Editeur / Publisher

Oxford University Press, Oxford, ROYAUME-UNI  (1980) (Revue)

Mots-clés anglais / English Keywords

Human ; Monozygotic twin ; Perception ; Olfaction ; Odor ; Body ;

Mots-clés français / French Keywords

Homme ; Jumeau monozygote ; Perception ; Olfaction ; Odeur ; Corps ;

Mots-clés espagnols / Spanish Keywords

Hombre ; Gemelo monozigótico ; Percepción ; Olfación ; Olor ; Cuerpo ;

Mots-clés d'auteur / Author Keywords

disassortative ; monozygotic ; odor ; odour ; olfaction ; scent ; smell ;

Localisation / Location

INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 16455, 35400013161980.0030