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Science identifies the ancient enzyme in bacteria that makes humans' body odor so pungent:
Researchers have zeroed in on the source of our stink.
The same team that identified the handful of bacteria responsible for human body odor has now gone a step further and pinpointed the enzyme operating within those organisms. It's a cysteine-thiol lyase (C-T lyase) enzyme within bacteria like Staphylococcus hominis that makes the actual smelly molecules, which have inspired an entire industry of deodorants to contain them.
"This is a key advancement in understanding how body odour works, and will enable the development of targeted inhibitors that stop BO production at source without disrupting the armpit microbiome," said University of York researcher Dr. Michelle Rudden, in a release.
[...] "This research was a real eye-opener," said Unilever co-author Dr. Gordon James. "It was fascinating to discover that a key odor-forming enzyme exists in only a select few armpit bacteria and evolved there tens of millions of years ago."
Journal Reference:
Michelle Rudden, Reyme Herman, Matthew Rose, et al. The molecular basis of thioalcohol production in human body odour [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68860-z)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday July 29 2020, @09:15AM (1 child)
Sure you did not go "nose blind"?
You won't smell yourself, as your sense of smell will re-baseline to the new environment. After a while, I even stopped noting the stench of my high school locker room, which was worse than the pig sty on the farm, however my all time award for smelliest thing on earth is that dumpster behind that fancy new fish restaurant.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Wednesday July 29 2020, @02:15PM
That's what other people tell me - that I don't smell. I know you can't trust yourself when it comes to that.