BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- People perceive body odor differently because of their genes, U.S. researchers suggested.

The study, published online on Sunday in the journal Nature, helps explain why the same sweaty man can smell like vanilla to some, like urine to others and for about a third of adults, have no smell at all.

Androstenone is in the sweat of men and women, but it is more highly concentrated in men. New research from Rockefeller University, performed in collaboration with scientists at Duke University, reveals for the first time that this extreme variability in people's perception of androstenone is due in large part to genetic variations in a single odorant receptor called OR7D4.

"This is the first time that any human odorant receptor is associated with how we experience odors," Hiroaki Matsunami of Duke University in North Carolina said in a telephone interview.

Matsunami and colleagues will further study this aspect to understand how smelling these chemicals might affect human social and sexual behavior.

(Agencies)