If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly wondering, “How do these aloof and frankly cold male mice keep attracting partners?!” Science has an answer: Blame it on the darcin.
Back in 2010, a team of biologists at the University of Liverpool studying major urinary proteins (MUPs) in mouse urine identified a male pheromone that “stimulates female memory and sexual attraction” to that male’s odor and named it darcin. So far so good, but you might be thinking that the name they chose sounds familiar. Well you’re right, and it’s ringing a bell for the exact reason you think. To quote the paper:
In order to highlight its unusual characteristics compared to all other known MUPs, and its role in female sexual attraction (see below), we named this 18893Da MUP as darcin (after Jane Austen’s hero in Pride and Prejudice).
Unusual, indeed! Well done, Sarah A Roberts, Deborah M Simpson, Stuart D Armstrong, et al, you found the perfect name for the urine you can’t help but fall for in the end.
I came across this information while browsing the Mr. Darcy Wikipedia page, and was shocked to come across the phrase “mouse urine.” This led me to the page for “Major urinary proteins,” which amongst images of 3D protein renderings, dot plots, and native gel electrophoresis analyses has this amazing picture and caption:
I’m not sure where pheromone research is these days, but if scientists ever find a pheromone that makes a male’s intentions extremely obvious to a mate, it could be named “colline.” Or maybe a pheromone that projects overconfidence to others could be “emmane.” Or if they find something that makes you good at hijacking the piano at parties, it could be “maryin.”
I’m glad the scientists are reading Austen and having a laugh—or “taking the piss” as I’m sure the U of Liverpool PhDs are saying in more ways than one.