IJCS：女性对香水味道喜好受基因调控

2012-01-01 来源:中国新闻网

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　　近日，国际著名杂志International Journal of Cosmetic Science刊登了国外研究人员的最新研究成果“Population genetic segmentation of MHC-correlated perfume preferences。”，文章中，作者揭示了女性对香水味道喜好是受基因调控的；香水是每个女人最爱的产品，瑞士一项研究发现，女性对于香水味道的喜好，都会受到一组名为MHC的基因调控，该基因也决定了每个人会受到哪一种异性的气味所吸引。

　　据报道，瑞士联邦技术研究所日前对116名受访者进行了不同气味的测试，包括肉桂、玫瑰、雪松等10种物质，而每次的测试浓度与环境都不相同。

　　结果发现，最受欢迎的气味是“香树脂”，而“香根草”因为气味较平淡，最不受欢迎。研究指出，在不同气味的刺激下，人类受基因MHC控制会对味道呈现出强度不同的反应。

　　英国剑桥大学专家莱斯利纳普表示，同一款香水给不同的人使用，会产生不一样的反应，而MHC基因将来也会被扩大研究。另一名瑞士专家德金德也表示，MHC基因与异性气味的关系是在女性闻嗅男性衬衫味道的实验中发现的，他还指出，90年代初期就曾发现过人体对于气味的喜好与免疫基因有关。

原文阅读：

Population genetic segmentation of MHC-correlated perfume preferences

A. Hämmerli1，2, C. Schweisgut2, M. Kaegi1,2

　　Keywords: individual preferences;major histocompatibility complex;mate choice behaviour;olfaction;perfume ingredients;perfumes;scent;sexual communication Synopsis It has become difficult to find a matching perfume. An overwhelming number of 300 new perfumes launch each year, and marketing campaigns target pre-defined groups based on gender, age or income rather than on individual preferences. Recent evidence for a genetic basis of perfume preferences, however, could be the starting point for a novel population genetic approach to better match perfumes with people’s preferences. With a total of 116 participants genotyped for alleles of three loci of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), the aim of this study was to test whether common MHC alleles could be used as genetic markers to segment a given population into preference types. Significant deviations from random expectations for a set of 10 common perfume ingredients indicate how such segmentation could be achieved. In addition, preference patterns of participants confronted with images that contained a sexual communication context significantly differed in their ratings for some of the scents compared with participants confronted with images of perfume bottles. This strongly supports the assumption that genetically correlated perfume preferences evolved in the context of sexual communication. The results are discussed in the light of perfume customization.

（责任编辑：颜子力）