Major urinary protein 20

UniProtKB accession:  Q5FW60

Grouped By:  Matching UniProtKB accession

UniProtKB description:  Male pheromone which stimulates female sexual attraction to male urinary scent and promotes a strong learned attraction to the airborne urinary odor of an individual male (PubMed:20525243, PubMed:31996852). Promotes spatial learning by rapidly conditioning preference for its remembered location among females and competitor males so that animals prefer to spend time in the site even when scent is absent (PubMed:23239735). In addition to promoting a rapid attraction response, also elicits ultrasonic vocalizations and urinary scent marking in females which do not occur immediately after exposure (PubMed:31996852). Stimulates hippocampal neurogenesis and cell proliferation in the subventricular zone in females (PubMed:25972792). Promotes male aggressive behavior (PubMed:18064011). Response to Mup20 is mediated by a neural circuit extending from the accessory olfactory bulb to a subset of nitric oxidase synthase-expressing neurons in the medial amygdala (PubMed:31996852). As well as acting as a pheromone itself, binds most of the male pheromone, 2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole, in urine and is responsible for its slow release from scent marks (PubMed:15934926, PubMed:25279835).