Genetic Matchmaking is the idea of matching couples for romantic relationships based on their biological compatibility. The initial idea was conceptualized by Dr. Wekekind through their famous "sweaty t-shirt" experiment [1]. Males were asked to wear T-shirts for two consecutive nights, and then females were asked to smell the t-shirts and rate the body odors for attractiveness. Human body odor has been associated with the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) genomic region. They discovered that females were attracted to men who had dissimilar HLA alleles from them. Furthermore, these females reported that the body odors of HLA-dissimilar males reminded them of our current partners of ex-partners providing further evidence of biological compatible.
Following the seminal research done by Dr. Wekekind [1], several independent studies were done to further prove the concept of biological compatibility. Garver-Apgar et al. [2] presented evidence for HLA_dissimilar alleles playing a factor in the healthiness of romantic relationships. They discovered that as the proportion of HLA-similar alleles increase between couples, females reported being less sexual responsive to their partners, , less satisfaction from being aroused by their partners and having additional sexual partners (while with their current partner). Additionally, Ober et al. [3] conducted an independent study on a population of American Hutterites by comparing the HLA alleles of married couples. They discovered that married couples were less likely to share HLA alleles than expected by just random chance; Thus there results were consistent with the idea of HLA-disassortative mating preferences. Further evidence of the importance of genetic compatibility can be seen in research that shows that couples sharing a higher proportion of HLA alleles tend to have recurring spontaneous abortions [4], reduced body mass in babies [4], and longer internals between successive births [5].
There are several biological reasons why females would be attracted to and mate with men with dissimilar HLA alleles [6]:
Several commercial copies have arisen to pave the way for genetic matchmaking. Most notably are American-based ScientificMatch and Swiss-based GenePartner.
There have been skepticism throughout the science community claiming the idea to be ridiculous. "They are just trying to make a buck," Dr. Rocio Moran, medical director of the General Genetics Clinic at the Cleveland Clinic. "If it's genetic, it must be real science." [7] Many skeptics state that the science of love cannot be simplified to just a few a genes.
Genetic Matchmaking is the idea of matching couples for romantic relationships based on their biological compatibility. The initial idea was conceptualized by Dr. Wekekind through their famous "sweaty t-shirt" experiment [1]. Males were asked to wear T-shirts for two consecutive nights, and then females were asked to smell the t-shirts and rate the body odors for attractiveness. Human body odor has been associated with the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) genomic region. They discovered that females were attracted to men who had dissimilar HLA alleles from them. Furthermore, these females reported that the body odors of HLA-dissimilar males reminded them of our current partners of ex-partners providing further evidence of biological compatible.
Following the seminal research done by Dr. Wekekind [1], several independent studies were done to further prove the concept of biological compatibility. Garver-Apgar et al. [2] presented evidence for HLA_dissimilar alleles playing a factor in the healthiness of romantic relationships. They discovered that as the proportion of HLA-similar alleles increase between couples, females reported being less sexual responsive to their partners, , less satisfaction from being aroused by their partners and having additional sexual partners (while with their current partner). Additionally, Ober et al. [3] conducted an independent study on a population of American Hutterites by comparing the HLA alleles of married couples. They discovered that married couples were less likely to share HLA alleles than expected by just random chance; Thus there results were consistent with the idea of HLA-disassortative mating preferences. Further evidence of the importance of genetic compatibility can be seen in research that shows that couples sharing a higher proportion of HLA alleles tend to have recurring spontaneous abortions [4], reduced body mass in babies [4], and longer internals between successive births [5].
There are several biological reasons why females would be attracted to and mate with men with dissimilar HLA alleles [6]:
Several commercial copies have arisen to pave the way for genetic matchmaking. Most notably are American-based ScientificMatch and Swiss-based GenePartner.
There have been skepticism throughout the science community claiming the idea to be ridiculous. "They are just trying to make a buck," Dr. Rocio Moran, medical director of the General Genetics Clinic at the Cleveland Clinic. "If it's genetic, it must be real science." [7] Many skeptics state that the science of love cannot be simplified to just a few a genes.