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! ! ABGESAGT ! !
Dustin
J. PENN
Konrad
Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences,
Vienna, A
Title
The
chemistry of human body odor: individual fingerprint in volatile
compounds and microbiota
Abstract
Some
evidence suggests that humans have individually distinctive
odors, and our aim was to test this idea and identify the
volatile compounds comprising individual odor signatures. We
systematically collected axillary sweat and microbial samples
longitudinally from 196 subjects from 16 families living in a
small village in the Austrian Alps. After conducting chemical
analyses of sweat (GC-MS chromatographic profiling), we
statistically analyzed the data using pattern recognition
techniques. We found that axillary sweat contains a large number
of volatile compounds, more than saliva or urine, and found 373
compound that are consistent over time (present in 4/5 samples).
Using these candidate compounds, we found much greater variation
between versus within individual samples, and we identified the
chemical structure of 44 of these individual compounds. We
also found marker compounds that enabled us to discriminate
sexes, and we identified 12 of the most significant sex-specific
compounds. Additionally, we used genetic methods (PCR-DGGE) to
analyze axillary microflora communities and found individual and
sex-specific microflora and a correlation between microflora and
GC-MS profiles. Some evidence suggests that MHC genes influence
individual odor in humans (as well as mice), and I will also
present results from our GC-MS analyses and an olfactory bioassay
study, in which we tested this idea.
CV
Education
Habilitation,
University of Vienna, Austria, 2004
Ph.D.,
Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1997.
M.S.,
Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 1992.
B.S.,
Biology, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma, 1988.
Professional
Career
Adjunct
Professor, Institute of Zoology, University of Vienna, Austria,
2004-present
Director of
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of
Sciences, Vienna, Austria, 2002-present
Visiting
Professor, School of Biology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle
Upon Tyne, UK, 2003-2005
Assistant
Research Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City, Utah, 1999-2002
Post-Doctoral
Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, Utah, 1998-1999
Selected
recent publications:
Penn,
D.J. &
Smith, K.R. 2007. "Differential costs of reproduction
between the sexes". Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci USA 104:
2, 553-558.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0609301103v1
Penn,
D.J.,
Oberzaucher, E., Grammer, K., Fischer, G., Soini, HA., Wiesler,
D., Novotny, M.V., Dixon, SJ., Xu, Y. & Brereton, R.G. 2007.
"Individual
and gender fingerprints in human body odour". J.
R. Soc. Interface 4:
331-340. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2006.0182
Penn,
D.J. 2003.
The evolutionary roots of our environmental problems: toward a
Darwinian ecology. Quarterly
Review of Biology, 78(3):
275-301.
Penn,
D.J. 2002.
The scent of genetic compatibility: Sexual selection and MHC
genes. Ethology,
108: 1-21.
Penn,
D.J., et al.
2002. MHC heterozygosity confers a selective advantage against
multiple-strain infections. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 99(17):
11260-11264.
Penn,
D. & Potts, W.K. 1999. The evolution of mating preferences
and major histocompatibility complex genes. American
Naturalist 153(2): 145-164.
Institution
address:
Prof
Dr Dustin J. PENN
Director
of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology
Austrian
Academy
of
Sciences
Savoyenstraße
1a
1160
Vienna
Austria
Phone:
+43-1-51581-2723
Fax:
+43-1-51581-2800
d.penn@klivv.oeaw.ac.at
Website:
http://www.oeaw.ac.at/klivv
Personal
page: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/klivv/en/persons/penn.html
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