Genetic imprinting - Urinary odour preferences in mice

Odour cues influence a variety of social activities in mammals, including kin recognition, mate selection, inbreeding avoidance and juvenile dispersal from the natal area1,2,3. Inbreeding avoidance is particularly evident across the mammalian phyla because inbreeding can cause a reduction in fitness4. Here we show that the attraction of mice to the urinary odours of other mice is subject to a 'parent-of-origin' effect5 which causes both males and females to prefer the odour of urine from mice of an unrelated strain to that of urine from mice of the same strain as their mothers.