Absence of evidence for MHC-dependent mate selection within HapMap populations

The major histocompatibility complex (mhc) of immunity genes has been reported to influence mate choice in vertebrates,and a recent study presented genetic evidence for this effect in humans. specifically,greater dissimilarity at the mhc locus was reported for european-american mates (parents in hapmap phase 2 trios) than for non-mates. here we show that the results depend on a few extreme data points,are not robust to conservative changes in the analysis procedure,and cannot be reproduced in an equivalent but independent set of european-american mates. although some evidence suggests an avoidance of extreme mhc similarity between mates,rather than a preference for dissimilarity,limited sample sizes preclude a rigorous investigation. in summary,fine-scale molecular-genetic data do not conclusively support the hypothesis that mate selection in humans is influenced by the mhc locus. © 2010 derti et al.