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Ability to smell androstenone is genetically determined.
Open accessAbstract
Some adult humans cannot detect the odor of androstenone (5 alpha-androst-16-en-3-one), a volatile steroid. To test for the presence of genetic variance associated with this trait, adult twins were tested for their ability to smell androstenone and another odorant, pyridine, that is readily perceived by most adults. Ascending concentration, two-sample (odor versus blank) forced choice tests were used to assess sensitivity to these odorants. Intraclass correlations for identical and fraternal twin detection thresholds to pyridine were small and not significantly different. However, intraclass correlations for thresholds to androstenone were significantly different, with the correlation for identical twins being greater than that for the fraternal twins. These data indicate a genetic component of variation in sensitivity to this odor. Investigations that use genetic variation could offer a new tool for studies of olfactory transduction mechanisms.
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Cited by
Ability to perceive androstenone can be acquired by ostensibly anosmic people.
Wysocki, C. J., Dorries, K. M., & Beauchamp, G. K. (1989) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.86.20.7976 · Cited by 289
Self-citationThe perception of odor objects in everyday life: a review on the processing of odor mixtures
Thomas-Danguin, T., Sinding, C., Romagny, S., El Mountassir, F., Atanasova, B., Le Berre, E., Le Bon, A.-M., & Coureaud, G. (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00504 · Cited by 285
Human olfaction: from genomic variation to phenotypic diversity
Hasin-Brumshtein, Y., Lancet, D., & Olender, T. (2009) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.tig.2009.02.002 · Cited by 176
Lancet, D., Sadovsky, E., & Seidemann, E. (1993) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.90.8.3715 · Cited by 160
Molecular Recognition in Biology: Models for Analysis of Protein—Ligand Interactions
Lancet, D., Horovitz, A., & Katchalski‐Katzir, E. (1994) · Perspectives in Supramolecular Chemistry · doi:10.1002/9780470511411.ch2 · Cited by 14
Metadata
- Authors
- Wysocki, C. J., & Beauchamp, G. K.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 1984-08
- Volume
- 81
- Issue
- 15
- Pages
- 4899-4902
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W2053690675
- Cited by
- 279
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 0.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
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