Researchers took samples from a gene bank and scanned them for matches to the rodent genes from the V1r family. They found eight matches in human genetic material. Further testing showed that seven of the eight human V1r genes are inoperative. The potentially functional gene, called V1RL1, subsequently was found in 11 out of 11 randomly chosen people from varying ethnic backgrounds, researchers said. It's unheard of that a family of 100 genes in mice is reduced to a single gene in humans,'' said the study's senior author, Peter Mombaerts.
Nerves connect it to parts of the brain involved in reactions rather than cognition.
In humans, the organ appears in embryos with its nerve cells extending into the developing brain. For several weeks, it serves as a pathway for hormones vital to sexual development and maturity. However, the VNO in humans shrinks and stops working before birth. Researchers have long suspected that humans communicate with pheromones. But how pheromones are produced and how they are detected across a room, or even greater distances, is poorly understood.