Durian DNA reveals stinky secrets of the 'king of fruit'

The smell of durian has been described by some as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock" — and scientists have now unlocked the biology behind its infamous aroma.

Key points

• Durian is renowned for its pungent smell and strong taste
• It is a delicacy and important cash crop in Southeast Asia
• Genome study reveals extra copies of a key gene involved in sulphur production, which contributes to the smell

Many people in South-East Asia, including Professor Bin Tean Teh, love the tropical delicacy, which is known as the "king of fruit".

"It has a very rich, creamy taste. To us it's like a heavenly smell and it melts in your mouth," said Professor Teh, a cancer researcher at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

Professor Teh is the lead author of a study, published today in Nature Genetics, which has identified key genes that are responsible for the fruit's pungent smell and strong taste.

"Usually you either like it or hate it. There's very few people in between saying, 'Oh it's okay'," he said.=read more