The chemistry of families: Linking body odor composition to olfactory perception

Abstract

Body odors inform human kin recognition. However, underlying chemical mechanisms and how they relate to body odor perception are still unclear. The present study therefore simultaneously examined perceptual body odor similarity according to human raters, its chemical basis and the link between the two in human families. The study included 33 raters who assessed body odors collected from 60 odor donors belonging to 15 biological families. Each family comprised a mother, a father and one adolescent same-sex sibling-dyad (8 sister dyads, 7 brother dyads). Body odor sampling was conducted with cotton pads for presentation to human raters and with thermal desorption (TD) tubes for Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Relatedness and sex predicted perceived body odor similarity in parent-offspring versus unrelated control dyads. Analyses of chemical profiles revealed greater body odor similarity within families than between unrelated individuals. Parallel to the perceptual results, relatedness and sex predicted chemical similarity based on whole odor profiles. Finally, a machine-learning prediction model integrating perceptual and chemical data, revealed a small but significant positive association between chemical similarity of body odor and perceived olfactory similarity according to human raters, suggesting that odor perception is partly informed by chemical characteristics. Overall, the present study extends our understanding of human chemosensory communication and supports the notion of a family-specific olfactory signature.

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Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{hierl2026chemistry,
  title = {{The chemistry of families: Linking body odor composition to olfactory perception}},
  author = {K. Hierl and C. Schnauber and M. Kücklich and B. Heinlein and C. Birkemeyer and B. M. Weiss and A. Widdig and L. Schäfer},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755001},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755001v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - The chemistry of families: Linking body odor composition to olfactory perception
AU  - K. Hierl
AU  - C. Schnauber
AU  - M. Kücklich
AU  - B. Heinlein
AU  - C. Birkemeyer
AU  - B. M. Weiss
AU  - A. Widdig
AU  - L. Schäfer
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/29
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755001
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755001v1
AB  - Body odors inform human kin recognition. However, underlying chemical mechanisms and how they relate to body odor perception are still unclear. The present study therefore simultaneously examined perceptual body odor similarity according to human raters, its chemical basis and the link between the two in human families. The study included 33 raters who assessed body odors collected from 60 odor donors belonging to 15 biological families. Each family comprised a mother, a father and one adolescent same-sex sibling-dyad (8 sister dyads, 7 brother dyads). Body odor sampling was conducted with cotton pads for presentation to human raters and with thermal desorption (TD) tubes for Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Relatedness and sex predicted perceived body odor similarity in parent-offspring versus unrelated control dyads. Analyses of chemical profiles revealed greater body odor similarity within families than between unrelated individuals. Parallel to the perceptual results, relatedness and sex predicted chemical similarity based on whole odor profiles. Finally, a machine-learning prediction model integrating perceptual and chemical data, revealed a small but significant positive association between chemical similarity of body odor and perceived olfactory similarity according to human raters, suggesting that odor perception is partly informed by chemical characteristics. Overall, the present study extends our understanding of human chemosensory communication and supports the notion of a family-specific olfactory signature.
ER  -