Behavioral Ecology Vol. 12 No. 2: 140-149
© 2001 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
Evidence for MHC-correlated perfume preferences in humans
Abteilung Verhaltensökologie, Universität Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, CH-3032 Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
Address correspondence to M. Milinski, who is now at the Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Department of Evolutionary Ecology, August-Thienemann-Strasse 2, D-24306 Ploen, Germany. E-mail: milinski{at}mpil-ploen.mpg.de . C. Wedekind is now at the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, UK.
Fragrances have been used since at least 5000 years ago and all traditional scents are found in modern perfumes. Although perfumes are obviously involved in sexual communication, the significance of great individual differences in preference for fragrances is an evolutionary puzzle. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a highly polymorphic and conserved set of genes that plays an important role in immune function in vertebrates. Both mice and humans have been shown to prefer the body odor of potential partners that have a dissimilar MHC genotype, which would result in heterozygous offspring. We tested whether individual preferences for perfume ingredients correlate with a person's MHC genotype. The human MHC is called HLA (human leukocyte antigen). A total of 137 male and female students who had been typed for their MHC (HLA-A, -B, -DR) scored 36 scents in a first test for use on self ("Would you like to smell like that yourself?") and a subset of 18 scents 2 years later either for use on self or for a potential partner ("Would you like your partner to smell like that?"). An overall analysis showed a significant correlation between the MHC and the scorings of the scents "for self" in both tests. In a detailed analysis we found a significant interaction of the two most common HLAs with the rating of the 36 scents in the first study as well as with the 18 scents in the second study when evaluated for self. This result suggests that persons who share, for example, HLA-A2, have a similar preference for any of the perfume ingredients. The significant repeatability of these preferences in the two tests showed that the volunteers that had either HLA-A1 or HLA-A2 were significantly consistent in their preferences for the perfume ingredients offered. Hardly any significant correlation between MHC genotype and ratings of the scents "for partner" were found. This agrees with the hypothesis that perfumes are selected "for self" to amplify in some way body odors that reveal a person's immunogenetics.
Key words: HLA type, immunogenetics, major histocompatibility complex (MHC), perfume, scent preference, sexual communication.
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