ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2017
Odour-based discrimination of similarity at the major histocompatibility complex in birds.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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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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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genomic structural variation rescues a classic biological invader from a population bottleneck.Science advances · 2026Article
- Major histocompatibility complex class IIB disassortative mate choice in a genetically monogamous seabird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Female-mediated selective sperm activation may remodel major histocompatibility complex-based mate choice decisions in humans.Heredity · 2025Article
- Updates and Current Challenges in Reproductive Microbiome: A Comparative Analysis between Cows and Women.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- No evidence for a role of MHC class II genotype in the chemical encoding of heterozygosity and relatedness in Antarctic fur seals.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- MHCtools - an R package for MHC high-throughput sequencing data: Genotyping, haplotype and supertype inference, and downstream genetic analyses in non-model organisms.Molecular ecology resources · 2022Article
- A Review of Suggested Mechanisms of MHC Odor Signaling.Biology · 2022Review
- Feather chemicals contain information about the major histocompatibility complex in a highly scented seabird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- House sparrows do not exhibit a preference for the scent of potential partners with different MHC-I diversity and genetic distances.PloS one · 2022Article
- Article
- Female-Based Patterns and Social Function in Avian Chemical Communication.Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Review
- Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds May Help Reduce Pollinator-Prey Overlap in the Carnivorous Plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae).Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Article
- Study of compositions of musks in different types secreted by forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii).PloS one · 2021Article
- Individual Chemical Profiles in the Leach's Storm-Petrel.Journal of chemical ecology · 2020Article
- MHC-Based Mate Choice in Wild Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Article
- Genetic variation at MHC class II loci influences both olfactory signals and scent discrimination in ring-tailed lemurs.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- "Balancing" balancing selection? Assortative mating at the major histocompatibility complex despite molecular signatures of balancing selection.Ecology and evolution · 2019Article
- Pigeon odor varies with experimental exposure to trace metal pollution.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2019Article
- The best smellers make the best choosers: mate choice is affected by female chemosensory receptor gene diversity in a mammal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Individual- and Species-Specific Skin Microbiomes in Three Different Estrildid Finch Species Revealed by 16S Amplicon Sequencing.Microbial ecology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many animals are known to preferentially mate with partners that are dissimilar at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in order to maximize the antigen binding repertoire (or disease resistance) in their offspring. Although several mammals, fish or lizards use odour cues to assess MHC similarity with potential partners, the ability of birds to assess MHC similarity using olfactory cues has not yet been explored. Here we used a behavioural binary choice test and high-throughput-sequencing of MHC class IIB to determine whether blue petrels can discriminate MHC similarity based on odour cues alone. Blue petrels are seabirds with particularly good sense of smell, they have a reciprocal mate choice and are known to preferentially mate with MHC-dissimilar partners. Incubating males preferentially approached the odour of the more MHC-dissimilar female, whereas incubating females showed opposite preferences. Given their mating pattern, females were, however, expected to show preference for the odour of the more MHC-dissimilar male. Further studies are needed to determine whether, as in women and female mice, the preference varies with the reproductive cycle in blue petrel females. Our results provide the first evidence that birds can use odour cues only to assess MHC dissimilarity.
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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.