Individual olfactory perception reveals meaningful nonolfactory genetic information

Cyrano de Bergerac observed that “a large nose is the mark of a witty, courteous, affable, generous and liberal man.” Here we report that individual noses, not how they look but rather how they function, indeed say a lot about a person. Each person expresses a nearly unique set of different olfactory receptor genes, and therefore may have unique olfactory perception. We developed a highly sensitive perceptual test we call the “olfactory fingerprint” that captures this variability. Individual olfactory fingerprints are therefore mirrors of individual olfactory genomes. We demonstrate that such fingerprints predict genetic features linked to the olfactory system, such as aspects of immune regulation. Thus, a precise measure of olfactory perception reveals meaningful nonolfactory genetic information.