Neuroendocrinology briefings - 11 - Pheromones and reproduction

The information humans receive from their nose is rarely of vital significa nce and although perfumers and masters of wine have developed a large vocab ulary of descriptors, most of us categorize odours into pleasant or unpleas ant. Not surprisingly therefore, most of our olfactory receptor genes are n onfunctional pseudogenes. Rodents, on the other hand, not only have a vast repertoire of olfactory genes (1000-1500) but also possess two additional s ets of receptors in the vomeronasal organ that is specialized for pheromone reception.