Human Olfactory Genetic Variation
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1
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Anthropology, United States
Previous studies examining human olfactory variation have found high variability in olfactory receptor (OR) genes between individuals, sexes, and within and between populations. Humans are also incredibly variable in their phenotypic perception of odors. The full extent of OR genotypic variation and its evolutionary underpinning leading to the diversity of modern phenotypes is unknown. Some research has suggested that evolutionary differential adaptation plays a role in variation within the olfactory subgenome, including weakly expressed pseudogenes. The proposed research is organized around testing the hypothesis that human OR genes are geospatially distributed along the evolutionary ecological pathway out of Africa. Along the way, adaptation to local and novel environments (cultural and biological) resulted in complex modern olfactory phenotypes and genetic diversity within and between populations.
The first objective is to establish the extent of ecological variation in the evolution of human olfaction. Specifically, we are interested in the mechanisms (drift and selection) giving rise to human genotypes and subsequent complex phenotypes. The second objective is to establish a comparative frame between a model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and humans to lay the groundwork for future experimental research addressing the big question of how complex phenotypes arise from geographic differentiation. Using a model that is a human commensal, we can test assumptions about the ecological evolutionary parameters acting on genetic variation.
Conference:
Summer School on Human Olfaction, Dresden, Germany, 19 Jul - 25 Jul, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Abstracts
Citation:
Hoover
KC
(2009). Human Olfactory Genetic Variation.
Conference Abstract:
Summer School on Human Olfaction.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.12.010
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Received:
22 Jul 2009;
Published Online:
22 Jul 2009.
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Correspondence:
Kara C Hoover, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Anthropology, Fairbanks, United States, kara.hoover@alaska.edu