There has been much debate about whether the rather unpleasant, musty smell of the human armpit is a sexual attractant (I remember studies getting girls to sniff tee-shirts previously worn by guys). New research from York University suggests something quite different
(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/27/know-sweat-scientists-solve-mystery-behind-body-odour). It appears that the pungent odour is largely generated by a species of bacterium, Staphylococcus hominum, feeding on materials released from the armpit's sweat glands. The offending bug appears to be unique in having an enzyme that can convert its food into a pungent thio-alcohol. The researchers transferred the 'BO gene', responsible for making the enzyme, to related species of bacterium, S. aureus. This, normally unsmelly bacterium, now generated the armpit odour as it fed. It seems clear that the odour is a by-product of an organism that is commensal (literally meaning 'feeding at the same table') with humans. So any 'sexual signalling function' associated with this region is learned by human experience. It is certainly not a so-called 'pheromone' (a discrete chemical signal released to the exterior like the sexual attractants produced by some moths)!
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