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. 2010 Apr 29;6(4):e1000925.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000925.

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

Adnan Derti  1 , Can Cenik, Peter Kraft, Frederick P Roth
Affiliations

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

Adnan Derti et al. PLoS Genet. .

Abstract

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Identity coefficients of HapMap European couples.
Autosomal and MHC identity coefficients are plotted for mate pairs and corresponding non-mate male-female pairs for (A) Phase 2 genotypes (30 couples) and (B) Phase 3 genotypes of individuals not included in Phase 2 (24 couples). Close relatives (see Text S2) are not shown. Coefficients were based on unphased genotypes, SNPs with MAF≥1%, and a het-het score of 1 (see Methods). Autosomal coefficients were lower in Phase 3 because fewer SNPs with low minor allele frequencies were genotyped. Same-sex coefficients are not shown but were included in calculations of relatedness.
Figure 2
Figure 2. MHC identity in HapMap Europeans.
Distributions of MHC identity coefficients are shown for mates and for non-mate male-female pairs in (A) Phase 2 (30 couples), and (B) Phase 3 (“all”; 50 couples), as well as the subset of Phase 3 couples not genotyped in Phase 2 (“Phase 3 only”; 24 couples). Close relatives were excluded.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Overall identity in HapMap Yorubans.
Distributions of identity coefficients based on all autosomal SNPs are shown for mates and for non-mate pairs in (A) Phase 2 (30 couples), and (B) Phase 3 (“all”; 54 couples), as well as the subset of Phase 3 couples not genotyped in Phase 2 (“Phase 3 only”; 28 couples). Coefficients were lower in Phase 3 because fewer SNPs with low minor allele frequencies were genotyped.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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