Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Prof. William Wisden F. Med. Sci.

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences

Chair in Molecular Neuroscience
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 9744w.wisden Website CV

 
 
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Location

 

401BSir Ernst Chain BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Clive:2021:10.1007/s10508-019-01591-z,
author = {Clive, J and Wisden, W and Savolainen, V},
doi = {10.1007/s10508-019-01591-z},
journal = {Archives of Sexual Behavior: an interdisciplinary research journal},
pages = {2283--2288},
title = {The de-scent of sexuality: should we smell a rat?},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01591-z},
volume = {50},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - In their Target Article, Pfau, Jordan, and Breedlove (2019) proposed a connection between the transient receptor potential cation channel 2 gene (TRPC2) and same-sex sexual behavior (SSSB) in primates. This novel theory is an attractive prospect for researchers investigating sexuality in the natural world. The proposal relies on evidence from proximate mechanism studies of TRPC2 knockout (KO) experiments in mice, in which non-functional TPRC2 alters the development of an olfactory sensory structure called the vomeronasal organ (VNO), resulting in an increase of SSSB in both males and females (Axel et al., 2002; Kimchi, Xu, & Dulac, 2007). In combination with an examination of TRPC2 sequence data and evolutionary relationships across primates, Pfau et al. proposed some hypotheses for the fitness consequences of SSSB in primates. Pfau et al. speculated that primates with multi-male/multi-female societies may have evolved via improved social cohesion facilitated by an increase in SSSB, mediated by non-functional TRPC2, and/or pleiotropy between increased SSSB and reduced same-sex aggression. Here, although we support some of these ideas by providing a more complete examination of TRPC2 in primates, we also advocate greater caution when interpreting available data on SSSB.
AU  - Clive,J
AU  - Wisden,W
AU  - Savolainen,V
DO  - 10.1007/s10508-019-01591-z
EP  - 2288
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0004-0002
SP  - 2283
TI  - The de-scent of sexuality: should we smell a rat?
T2  - Archives of Sexual Behavior: an interdisciplinary research journal
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01591-z
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/75284
VL  - 50
ER  -
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