Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4355026 | Trends in Neurosciences | 2006 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
The olfactory and immune systems must perform optimally in the task of recognizing thousands of molecules to ensure survival. A particularly intriguing link between these systems is that animals can smell differences in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a cluster of highly polymorphic genes found on human chromosome 6 and mouse chromosome 17. Two different sets of compounds found in urine have been postulated to convey information on MHC haplotype: volatile compounds (odortypes) and MHC peptides. Here we argue for complementary roles for these chemosignals.
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Authors
Diego Restrepo, Weihong Lin, Ernesto Salcedo, Kunio Yamazaki, Gary Beauchamp,