Secretions of male accessory glands contain a variety of bioactive molecules. When transferred during mating, these molecules exert wide-ranging effects on female reproductive activity and they improve the male's chances of siring a significant proportion of the female's offspring. The accessory gland secretions may affect virtually all aspects of the female's reproductive activity. The secretions may render her unwilling or unable to remate for some time, facilitating sperm storage and ensuring that any eggs laid will be fertilized by that male's sperm. They may stimulate an increase in the number and rate of development of eggs and modulate ovulation and/or oviposition. Antimicrobial agents in the secretions ensure that the female reproductive tract is a hospitable environment during sperm transfer. In a few species the secretions include noxious chemicals. These are sequestered by developing eggs that are thereby protected from predators and pathogens when laid.

Male accessory gland secretions: modulators of female reproductive physiology and behavior.

Tokens of love: functions and regulation of Drosophila male accessory gland products.

During mating, males transfer seminal proteins and peptides, along with sperm, to their mates. In Drosophila melanogaster, seminal proteins made in the male's accessory gland stimulate females' egg production and ovulation, reduce their receptivity to mating, mediate sperm storage, cause part of the survival cost of mating to females, and may protect reproductive tracts or gametes from microbial attack. The physiological functions of these proteins indicate that males provide their mates with molecules that initiate important reproductive responses in females. A new comprehensive EST screen, in conjunction with earlier screens, has identified approximately 90% of the predicted secreted accessory gland proteins (Acps). Most Acps are novel proteins and many appear to be secreted peptides or prohormones. Acps also include modification enzymes such as proteases and their inhibitors, and lipases. An apparent prohormonal Acp, ovulin (Acp26Aa) stimulates ovulation in mated Drosophila females. Another male-derived protein, the large glycoprotein Acp36DE, is needed for sperm storage in the mated female and through this action can also affect sperm precedence, indirectly. A third seminal protein, the protease inhibitor Acp62F, is a candidate for contributing to the survival cost of mating, given its toxicity in ectopic expression assays. That male-derived molecules manipulate females in these ways can result in a molecular conflict between the sexes that can drive the rapid evolution of Acps. Supporting this hypothesis, an unusually high fraction of Acps show signs consistent with their being targets of positive Darwinian selection.

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The gifts that keep on giving: physiological functions and evolutionary dynamics of male seminal proteins in Drosophila

A low molecular weight serine protease inhibitor (TAP) was purified from extracts of the soft tick, Ornithodoros moubata. The peptide is a slow, tight-binding inhibitor, specific for factor Xa (Ki = 0.588 +/- 0.054 nM). The inhibitor also acts as an anticoagulant in several human plasma clotting assays in vitro. Its amino acid sequence (60 residues) has limited homology to the Kunitz-type inhibitors. However, unlike other inhibitors of this class, TAP inhibits only factor Xa. It had no effect at a 300-fold molar excess on factor VIIa, kallikrein, trypsin, chymotrypsin, thrombin, urokinase, plasmin, tissue plasminogen activator, elastase, or Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease. TAP's specificity and size suggest that it may have therapeutic value as an anticoagulant.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/248/4955/593.full.pdf

Tick anticoagulant peptide (TAP) is a novel inhibitor of blood coagulation factor Xa

The seminal fluid of male Drosophila contains a cocktail of proteins that have striking effects on male and female fitness. In D. melanogaster, seminal fluid proteins affect female receptivity, ovulation, oogenesis, sperm storage, sperm competition and mating plug formation. In addition, the seminal fluid contains antibacterial peptides and protease inhibitors. Some seminal fluid-encoding genes also show high rates of evolutionary change, exhibiting both significant between-species divergence and within-species polymorphism. Seminal fluid protein genes are expressed only in males, begging the question of how and why the reproductive processes of females are influenced by males. In this review I address these issues by bringing together evidence for the function, evolution, diversification, and maintenance of variation in, seminal fluid-mediated traits.

P Böhlen

Papers

A male accessory gland peptide with protease inhibitory activity in Drosophila funebris