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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Use of Single Chain MHC Technology to Investigate Co-agonism in Human CD8+ T Cell Activation
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Published on: February 28, 2019

Is mate choice in humans MHC-dependent?

Raphaëlle Chaix1, Chen Cao, Peter Donnelly

  • 1Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. chaix@mnhn.fr

Plos Genetics
|September 13, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Humans may choose mates based on their immune system genes. The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) influences mate choice in European Americans, but not African Americans, suggesting population-specific effects on human mating preferences.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Human genetics
  • Behavioral genetics

Background:

  • The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is known to influence mating preferences in various species, potentially through body odor cues.
  • In humans, evidence for MHC-influenced mate choice is conflicting, with some studies suggesting a preference for dissimilar MHC types to enhance offspring immunity, while others find no such tendency.
  • Understanding MHC's role in human mate selection is crucial for comprehending sexual selection and its impact on genetic diversity and disease resistance.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether humans exhibit mate choice preferences based on the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genetic type.
  • To differentiate MHC-specific mating preferences from broader genome-wide genetic similarity or dissimilarity patterns.
  • To compare MHC-based mate choice patterns between African and European American populations.

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Main Methods:

  • Analysis of genome-wide genotype data from the HapMap II dataset, specifically examining Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) types in African and European American couples.
  • Comparison of genetic similarity/dissimilarity within the MHC region between spouses against genome-wide patterns.
  • Statistical analysis using the relatedness coefficient (R) to quantify similarity/dissimilarity in MHC and other genomic regions.

Main Results:

  • African American couples showed no significant similarity or dissimilarity in the MHC region, but were more genetically similar genome-wide than random pairs.
  • European American couples displayed significant MHC dissimilarity, a pattern more pronounced than genome-wide dissimilarity or dissimilarity in other genomic regions of comparable size and recombination rate.
  • The observed MHC dissimilarity in European Americans was statistically significant and notably extreme compared to genome-wide patterns.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) influences mate choice in at least some human populations, specifically European Americans.
  • The findings suggest that MHC-mediated mate selection may not be universal across all human populations, potentially due to demographic or cultural factors.
  • Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms and population-specific dynamics underlying MHC's role in human reproductive strategies.