In article <Pine.ULT.3.91.960317112422.10847C-100000 at essex.UCHSC.edu>,
Teresa Binstock <binstoct at essex.UCHSC.edu> wrote:
> The Boyse and colleagues studies are very important,
snip
>> An important issue is, Where in the nasal cavity (if there at all) is
> MHC/HLA processing occurring in ways that modulate mate choice?
>snip
Since my original reply post, I heard from <!ralph at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU> that
it is peptides that are discriminated. I looked through the abstracts
from EA Boyse, and it seems clear that he believes that what are detected
are odors in urine. Is there any reason to think that MHC is involved in
detection, as implied in the quote above?
The source of the odors is in the MHC and is polymorphic--does Boyse think
that the odors are derived from MHC molecules? e.g. peptides bound to MHC
and released somehow into urine? Or are they derived from other loci in
the MHC? Has he looked at MHC transgenics? MHC knockouts?
David Parker
parkers at ohsu.edu
