Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/10792
Appears in Collections:Psychology Research Reports
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Body odor similarity in noncohabiting twins
Author(s): Roberts, S Craig
Gosling, L Morris
Spector, Tim D
Miller, Paul D
Penn, Dustin J
Petrie, Marion
Contact Email: craig.roberts@stir.ac.uk
Citation: Roberts SC, Gosling LM, Spector TD, Miller PD, Penn DJ & Petrie M (2005) Body odor similarity in noncohabiting twins. Chemical Senses, 30 (8), pp. 651-656. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bji058
Keywords: disassortative
monozygotic
odor
odour
olfaction
scent
smell
Twins Psychology
Smell Psychological aspects
Chemical senses
Issue Date: Oct-2005
Date Deposited: 30-Jan-2013
Publisher: Oxford University Press
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.
Type: Journal Article
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/10792
DOI Link: 10.1093/chemse/bji058
Rights: The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study.
Affiliation: Psychology
Newcastle University
St Thomas' Hospital, London
Newcastle University
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austria
Newcastle University
Licence URL(s): http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved

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