scholarly journals No evidence that mate choice in humans is dependent on the MHC

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mircea Cretu-Stancu ◽  
Wigard P. Kloosterman ◽  
Sara L. Pulit
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Whole Genome Sequence ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex

AbstractA long-standing hypothesis in biology proposes that various species select mates with a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) composition divergent from their own, so as to improve immune response in offspring. However, human and animal studies investigating this mate selection hypothesis have returned inconsistent results. Here, we analyze 239 mate-pairs of Dutch ancestry, all with whole-genome sequence data collected by the Genome of the Netherlands project, to investigate whether mate selection in humans is MHC dependent. We find no evidence for MHC-mediated mate selection in this sample (with an average MHC genetic similarity in mate pairs (Qc) = 0.829; permutation-based p = 0.703). Limiting the analysis to only common variation or considering the extended MHC region does not change our findings (Qc = 0.671, p = 0.513; and Qc = 0.844, p = 0.696, respectively). We demonstrate that the MHC in mate-pairs is no more genetically dissimilar (on average) than a pair of two randomly selected individuals, and conclude that there is no evidence to suggest that mate choice is influenced by genetic variation in the MHC.Author summaryStudies within various animal species have shown that the genetic content of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) can influence mate choice. Such mate selection would be advantageous, as mating between individuals with different alleles across MHC genes would produce offspring with a more diverse MHC and therefore possess improved immune response to various pathogens. Studies of the influence on the MHC in human mate selection have been far less conclusive. Two studies of MHC-dependent mate selection performed on SNP data collected as part of the HapMap Consortium returned conflicting results: the first study reported significantly different MHC variation between mate pairs, and the second report refuted this claim. Here, we analyze a dataset comprised of 239 whole-genome sequenced Dutch mate pairs, a sample set an order of magnitude larger than the HapMap data and containing denser characterization of genetic variation. We find no evidence that the MHC influences mate selection in our population, and we show that this finding is robust to potential confounding factors and the types and frequencies of genetic variants analysed.

scholarly journals Major histocompatibility complex-associated odour preferences and human mate choice: near and far horizons

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1800) ◽  
pp. 20190260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Havlíček ◽  
Jamie Winternitz ◽  
S. Craig Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Adaptive Immune System ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Meta Analyses

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a core part of the adaptive immune system. As in other vertebrate taxa, it may also affect human chemical communication via odour-based mate preferences, with greater attraction towards MHC-dissimilar partners. However, despite some well-known findings, the available evidence is equivocal and made complicated by varied approaches to quantifying human mate choice. To address this, we here conduct comprehensive meta-analyses focusing on studies assessing: (i) genomic mate selection, (ii) relationship satisfaction, (iii) odour preference, and (iv) all studies combined. Analysis of genomic studies reveals no association between MHC-dissimilarity and mate choice in actual couples; however, MHC effects appear to be independent of the genomic background. The effect of MHC-dissimilarity on relationship satisfaction was not significant, and we found evidence for publication bias in studies on this area. There was also no significant association between MHC-dissimilarity and odour preferences. Finally, combining effect sizes from all genomic, relationship satisfaction, odour preference and previous mate choice studies into an overall estimate showed no overall significant effect of MHC-similarity on human mate selection. Based on these findings, we make a set of recommendations for future studies, focusing both on aspects that should be implemented immediately and those that lurk on the far horizon. We need larger samples with greater geographical and cultural diversity that control for genome-wide similarity. We also need more focus on mechanisms of MHC-associated odour preferences and on MHC-associated pregnancy loss. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.

Immune response differences between two inbred chicken lines identical at the major histocompatibility complex

1977 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Palladino ◽  
Douglas G. Gilmour ◽  
Albert R. Scafuri ◽  
Howard A. Stone ◽  
G. Jeanette Thorbecke
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex

The Interaction of Antigens and Superantigens with the Human Class II Major Histocompatibility Complex Molecule HLA-DR1

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Jardetzky
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
T Cells ◽  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Complex Molecule ◽  
Thymic Selection ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Peptide Antigens ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Unique Specificity

The initiation and maintenance of an immune response to pathogens requires the interactions of cells and proteins that together are able to distinguish appropriate non-self targets from the myriadof self-proteins (Janeway and Bottomly, 1994). This discrimination between self and non-self is in part accomplished by three groups of proteins of the immune system that have direct and specific interactions with antigens: antibodies, T cell receptors (TcR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. Antibodies and TcR molecules are clonally expressed by the B and T cells of the immune system, respectively, defining each progenitor cell with a unique specificity for antigen. In these cell types both antibodies and TcR proteins undergo similar recombination events to generate a variable antigen combining site and thus produce a nearly unlimited number of proteins of different specificities. TcR molecules are further selected to recognize antigenic peptides bound to MHC proteins, during a process known as thymic selection, restricting the repertoire of T cells to the recognition of antigens presented by cells that express MHC proteins at their surface. Thymic selection of TcR and the subsequent restricted recognition of peptide-MHC complexes by peripheral T cells provides a fundamental molecular basis for the discrimination of self from non-sell and the regulation of the immune response (Allen, 1994; Nossal, 1994; von Boehmer, 1994). For example, different classes of T cells are used to recognize and kill infected cells (cytotoxic T cells) arid to provide lymphokiries that induce the niajority of soluble antibody responses of B cells (helper T cells). In contrast to the vast combinatorial and clonal diversity of antibodies and TcRs, a small set of MHC molecules is used to recognize a potentially unlimited universe of foreign peptide antigens for antigen presentation to T cells (Germain, 1994). This poses the problem of how each MHC molecule is capable of recognizing enough peptides to insure an immune response to pathogens. In addition, the specificity of the TcR interaction with MHC-peptide complexes is clearly crucial to the problem of self :non-self discrimination, with implications for both protective immunity and auto-immune disease.

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