ReviewJournal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology2010
Pheromones and signature mixtures: defining species-wide signals and variable cues for identity in both invertebrates and vertebrates.
Review in Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 127 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
127 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 373 citations in OpenAlex.
- The scent of emotions: A systematic review of human intra- and interspecific chemical communication of emotions.Brain and behavior · 2020Pooled it
- Induction of scratching behaviour in cats: efficacy of synthetic feline interdigital semiochemical.Journal of feline medicine and surgery · 2013Trial
- Can a water-based mist form of the F3 facial pheromone have a short-term effect on cats' adaptation to a new situation?Journal of feline medicine and surgery · 2026Article
- Interactive effects of mating receptivity and courtship pheromones on the scent preferences of female red-legged salamanders.PloS one · 2026Article
- Foxg1 and Retinoic Acid Signaling Regulate Zonal Patterning in the Developing Olfactory Epithelium.Development, growth & differentiation · 2025Article
- The Secret of Secrets: Carbonic Anhydrase Concentration in Lizards' Femoral Gland Secretions Is Tuned to Environmental Conditions.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Urine washing and urinary odour profiles in relation to dominance rank status in wild male capuchin monkeys (Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Red squirrels exhibit antipredator behavioural changes in response to a native predator, the pine marten.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- A family of crown-of-thorns starfish spine-secreted proteins modify adult conspecific behavior.iScience · 2025Article
- Sensory responses of olfactory and vomeronasal neurons in does are influenced by buck odors and their reproductive status.Chemical senses · 2025Article
- Common scents? A review of potentially shared chemical signals in the order Carnivora.Chemical senses · 2025Review
- Information sharing within a social network is key to behavioral flexibility-Lessons from mice tested under seminaturalistic conditions.Science advances · 2025Article
- Ant responses in a lycaenid-ant symbiosis are not facilitated by cuticular compounds alone.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Past, Present, and Future of Human Chemical Communication Research.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2025Review
- In-silico evaluation of putative maternal semiochemicals of pigs with receptor proteins.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Article
- Behavioral and neurobiological implications of kairomones for rodents: an updated review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- The Ortholog Receptor Or67d in Drosophila Bipectinata is able to Detect Two Different Pheromones.Journal of chemical ecology · 2024Article
- Innate and learned components of egg recognition in the antRoyal Society open science · 2024Article
- Article
- Asian elephants distinguish sexual status and identity of unfamiliar elephants using urinary odours.Biology letters · 2023Article
67 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pheromones have been found in species in almost every part of the animal kingdom, including mammals. Pheromones (a molecule or defined combination of molecules) are species-wide signals which elicit innate responses (though responses can be conditional on development as well as context, experience, and internal state). In contrast, signature mixtures, in invertebrates and vertebrates, are variable subsets of molecules of an animal's chemical profile which are learnt by other animals, allowing them to distinguish individuals or colonies. All signature mixtures, and almost all pheromones, whatever the size of molecules, are detected by olfaction (as defined by receptor families and glomerular processing), in mammals by the main olfactory system or vomeronasal system or both. There is convergence on a glomerular organization of olfaction. The processing of all signature mixtures, and most pheromones, is combinatorial across a number of glomeruli, even for some sex pheromones which appear to have 'labeled lines'. Narrowly specific pheromone receptors are found, but are not a prerequisite for a molecule to be a pheromone. A small minority of pheromones act directly on target tissues (allohormone pheromones) or are detected by non-glomerular chemoreceptors, such as taste. The proposed definitions for pheromone and signature mixture are based on the heuristic value of separating these kinds of chemical information. In contrast to a species-wide pheromone, there is no single signature mixture to find, as signature mixtures are a 'receiver-side' phenomenon and it is the differences in signature mixtures which allow animals to distinguish each other.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.