Detection of Human Pheromones

Newly developed research leads investigators to believe that humans, although lacking the natural machinery to detect pheromones that animals use, may actually be able to detect pheromones through the use of trace amine- associated receptors(TAARs). Many insects and mammals that use pheromones, chemicals that transmit a message to members of the same species, detect these with the vomeronasal organ which lies between the nose and the mouth. Although humans lack this organ, the discovery that mice use receptors in the olfactory epithelium to detect pheromones, could suggest that humans use a similar mechanism to detect pheromones as well. To demonstrate this, neuroscientists from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle scanned olfactory epithelium of mice and identified a family of genes that appeared to be expressed only in olfactory neurons. The TAAR encoding genes have been found to be activated by compounds such as isoamylamine and trimethlyamine, two pheromones in mice urine. Since humans also have TAAR genes, this finding suggests that humans are also capable of detecting pheromones.
This investigation may lead to evidence regarding a whole new aspect of human behaviors, including sexual preference.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/731/4