Response to “MHC‐dependent mate choice in humans: Why genomic patterns from the HapMap European American data set support the hypothesis” (DOI: 10.1002/bies.201100150)

In 2008, Chaix et al. reported that HapMap Phase 2 genotypes provided evidence that the major histocompatibility (MHC) locus is implicated in mate choice in European-Americans. In 2010, we reported that this result went from marginally significant to insignificant with any one of several minor changes to the methods, and was not reproduced in an independent cohort (namely HapMap Phase 3 genotypes). More recently, Laurent and Chaix challenged our conclusions. Here we reaffirm our assessment that HapMap genotypes do not confidently support a role for the MHC locus in human mate selection.