不经过逻辑思维运作的化学讯号
因为基因的关系，第一次被证实出，人类能接收到这个具有影响力的化学物质-费洛蒙。
这发现给予科学家对人类的本能有了新的认知。
众所皆知费洛蒙能引发特定的身体反应，包含交配和防御的行为，在动物界如昆虫、鱼和动物身上很常看见。
科学家常揣测，人类也许跟其他动物一样，利用这些化学物质来驱策本能上的欲望。
住在一起的女性通常会造成月经同步现象，原因来自於她们腋下的汗水分泌著无味的化学物质。
但迄今为止，科学家仍无法解释身体的哪个部位，如何接收和运作这些化学讯息并传递到大脑的。
一个特殊的器官
许多动物，包括老鼠、兔子和猪等，都有一个很特殊的器官，称之为犁鼻器。
这个器官能直接传递化学讯号到脑部最原始的区域-脑下视丘-，并刺激原始本能的反应。
不过这个器官只在人类胚胎时期还存在著，在出生后，其功能也跟著退化。
如今，在纽约洛克菲勒大学和康乃迪克州耶鲁大学的科学家们都相信，他们找出一个可能制造费洛蒙受体的基因。
所谓的受体，指的是细胞上的某个区块，能够接收特定的分子。
这基因称之为V1RL1，它有别於其他哺乳类动物的基因，且与鼠类制造费洛蒙的受体极为相似。
来自洛克菲勒大学的彼得‧莫恩巴尔茨博士在自然遗传学刊内说：「人们在过去都从解剖学的角度来解析这个议题。而这是第一次尝试著从分子生物学的角度来看待。」。
古老的线索
莫恩巴尔茨博士和他的同事发现，七个应该产生完整蛋白质的DNA序列，却在演化的过程中被关闭了。
为什麼这些看似基因，实际上却不能产生完整蛋白质的伪基因会存在，仍然是个谜。其中一种可能性为，人类在演化的过程中，仰赖费洛蒙的机会减少了。
还有一系列的研究需要进行，来证明V1RL1就是制造费洛蒙受体的基因。
一家位於加州称为塞诺米克斯的生物科技公司，正在仔细观察这个基因如何运作，人类的哪一部份行为受到费洛蒙所驱策。
一些道德学家担心这研究可能会导致滥用费洛蒙。他们担心，人工合成费洛蒙有可能在广告、政治或战争上被误用来改变人类的行为。

Secrets of human attraction
Tuesday, 29 August, 2000, 13:10 GMT 14:10 UK
Chemical signals bypass the thought process
A gene that could explain how humans pick up powerful chemical signals called pheromones may have been pinpointed for the first time.
The discovery promises to give scientists a new understanding of our basic instincts.
Pheromones are known to trigger physical responses including sexual arousal and defensive behaviour in many species of insects, fish and animals.
There has long been speculation that humans may also use these chemicals to communicate instinctive urges.
Women living together often synchronise their menstrual cycles because they secrete an odourless chemical in underarm sweat.
But until now scientists have not been able to explain how and where in the body the chemicals are picked up and their messages passed to the brain.
Special organ
Many animals, including mice, rabbits and pigs, have a special organ called the vomeronasal organ (VNO).
This relays chemical signals directly to the most primitive centres of the brain, stimulating instinctive reactions.
In human embryos these organs exist but they appear to perform no function after birth.
Now, scientists at Rockefeller University in New York and Yale University in Connecticut believe they have found a gene which may create pheromone receptors.
A receptor is an area on a cell that binds to specific molecules.
Called V1RL1, the gene resembles no other type of mammalian gene and bears a strong similarity to those thought to create pheromone receptors in rats and mice.
"People have taken an anatomical approach to the issue in the past. This is the first attempt to look at the molecular biology," said Dr Peter Mombaerts from Rockefeller University in the journal Nature Genetics.
Ancient clues
Dr Mombaerts and his colleagues also found seven related snippets of DNA which should produce a protein but appear to have been turned off at some stage in their evolution.
Why these "pseudogenes" exist is a mystery. One possible explanation could be that in their distant evolutionary past humans made more use of pheromones than they do now.
Much work still needs to be done to prove V1RL1 is a gene and does create pheromone receptors.
A biotechnology company called Senomyx in California is looking at how the gene may work and which aspects of human behaviour are controlled by pheromones.
Some ethicists are worried research could lead to pheromone abuse. Carefully targeted artifical pheromones could be misused to modify human behaviour in advertising, politics and even warfare.