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Environmental Effects Exceed Genetic Effects on Perceived Intensity and Pleasantness of Several Odors: A Three-Population Twin Study

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Abstract

Human genes encoding odorant receptors have been identified, but the contribution of genetic effects to total variation in specific odor perceptions is largely unknown. We estimated the relative contributions of genetic and environmental effects to variation in the perceived intensity and pleasantness of cinnamon, chocolate, turpentine, and isovaleric acid (sweaty) odors by quantitative genetic modeling of odor rating data from 856 twin individuals (including 83 complete monozygotic and 275 dizygotic twin pairs) aged 10–60 years (44% males and 56% females) from Australia, Denmark, and Finland. Results from fitting univariate models including components for additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and non-shared environmental (E) effects to the data implied that non-shared environmental effects account for the most variation in ratings of individual odors while genetic effects play only a minor role. Multivariate independent pathway model revealed a modest but significant common additive genetic component for intensity ratings, explaining 18% of the total variation. The results promote the importance of inter-individual variation in odor exposures and olfactory plasticity to odor perception.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the twins for participating in the study. Quest International (presently Givaudan) is acknowledged for sponsoring the scratch-and-sniff stimuli and support in designing them. We are grateful to Jytte Duerlund, Birgit Wich, Ann Eldridge, Marlene Grace, Daniel Park, Kaisu Taskila, Johanna Kuumola, Maarit Lähdesmäki, Mari Siltala, and Eero Vuoksimaa for their contribution to data collection. The Academy of Finland (grants 206327 [HT] and 108297 [KS]) and the European Commission (GenomEUtwin project under the ‘Quality of Life and Management of the Living Resources’ of 5th Framework Programme [QLG2-CT-2002-01254]) are acknowledged for funding. Data collection of Finnish twins was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants AA-12502 (to RJ Rose), and by the Academy of Finland grant 205585 (JK). JK, KS, and MP are supported by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Technology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Antti Knaapila, Hely Tuorila & Kaisu Keskitalo

  2. Department of Molecular Medicine, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Antti Knaapila, Kaisu Keskitalo & Markus Perola

  3. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Karri Silventoinen & Jaakko Kaprio

  4. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia

    Margaret J. Wright & Jonathan Hansen

  5. Institute of Regional Health Research and the Danish Twin Registry, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Kirsten O. Kyvik

  6. Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Kaprio

  7. Department of Medical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Markus Perola

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  1. Antti Knaapila
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  2. Hely Tuorila
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  3. Karri Silventoinen
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  4. Margaret J. Wright
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  5. Kirsten O. Kyvik
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  6. Kaisu Keskitalo
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  7. Jonathan Hansen
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  8. Jaakko Kaprio
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  9. Markus Perola
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Correspondence to Antti Knaapila.

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Edited by Deborah Finkel.

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Knaapila, A., Tuorila, H., Silventoinen, K. et al. Environmental Effects Exceed Genetic Effects on Perceived Intensity and Pleasantness of Several Odors: A Three-Population Twin Study. Behav Genet 38, 484–492 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-008-9211-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-008-9211-6

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