Journal ArticleDOI
Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid can protect the sperm of other males
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TLDR
It is suggested that residual seminal fluid inside females could benefit the sperm of subsequent mates, affecting the outcome of sperm competition and influencing the evolution of ejaculates and mating systems.Abstract:
Summary
1Many internally-fertilizing animals produce seminal fluid which is transferred along with sperm during mating. Seminal fluid typically contains a diverse range of chemicals that coordinate sperm storage, moderate sperm motility, provide advantages in sexual selection and influence female physiology.
2Seminal fluid is well-studied in Drosophila melanogaster, a species in which it has been suggested to ‘incapacitate’ the sperm of rival males (e.g. by killing them) and thereby provide an advantage in sperm competition. This hypothesis has been tested several times over many years, but different studies have yielded conflicting conclusions. Here, I use fluorescent staining to directly measure the effects of D. melanogaster seminal fluid on the survival of sperm from the same male or from a rival. The results suggest that seminal fluid improves sperm survival, even if the sperm are from a different male. This study therefore provides strong evidence that seminal fluid does not kill rival sperm, and instead can actually protect them. This study also tested whether chemicals in the female reproductive tract harm sperm as in another Drosophila species, but found no evidence of this.
3These findings suggest that residual seminal fluid inside females could benefit the sperm of subsequent mates, affecting the outcome of sperm competition and influencing the evolution of ejaculates and mating systems.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
When every sperm counts: factors affecting male fertility in the honeybee Apis mellifera
TL;DR: It is found that sperm viability decreases with male age but that males of some colonies were better able to delay ejaculate senescence than others, and that honeybee drones have been under strong selection for extreme specialization on reproductive performance and that this precludes any exposure to the stressful conditions that foraging workers normally experience.
Journal ArticleDOI
Proteins within the seminal fluid are crucial to keep sperm viable in the honeybee Apis mellifera
TL;DR: It is shown that honeybee seminal fluid is highly potent in keeping sperm alive and this positive effect is present over a 24h time span, comparable to the timing of the sperm storage process in the queen.
Book ChapterDOI
Molecular Social Interactions: Drosophila melanogaster Seminal Fluid Proteins as a Case Study
Laura K. Sirot,Brooke A. LaFlamme,Jessica L. Sitnik,C. Dustin Rubinstein,Frank W. Avila,Clement Y. Chow,Mariana F. Wolfner +6 more
TL;DR: The roles played by seminal fluid proteins (Sfps) in molecular social interactions between males and females of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are reviewed, with a discussion of the ways in which Sfps can both shape and be shaped by the organismal-level social interactions in which they are involved.
Journal ArticleDOI
Male seminal fluid substances affect sperm competition success and female reproductive behavior in a seed beetle.
TL;DR: The experiments show that several different seminal fluid proteins, deriving from different parts in the male reproductive tract and of different molecular weight, affect male competitive fertilization success in C. maculatus and show that the function of such proteins can be contingent upon female mating status.
Journal ArticleDOI
Male attractiveness, fertility and susceptibility to oxidative stress are influenced by inbreeding in Drosophila simulans.
TL;DR: It is found that male fertility and attractiveness were especially susceptible to inbreeding depression and levels of testicular oxidative stress were significantly elevated in inbred males, although sperm viability did not differ between inbred and outbred males.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Cost of mating in Drosophila melanogaster females is mediated by male accessory gland products
TL;DR: It is demonstrated here that seminal fluid products from the main cells of the male accessory gland are responsible for the cost of mating in females, and that increasing exposure to these products increases female death rate.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reactive oxygen species and sperm physiology
TL;DR: The fine balance between ROS production and scavenging, as well as the right timing and site for ROS production are of paramount importance for acquisition of fertilizing ability.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sperm in competition: not playing by the numbers.
TL;DR: To understand how postcopulatory sexual selection influences sperm traits, future research should determine sex-specific interactions that influence paternity, identify genetic correlations between ejaculate characters, quantify the relative costs of producing different sperm trait, and test assumptions of models of sperm quality evolution.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tokens of love: functions and regulation of Drosophila male accessory gland products.
TL;DR: These studies provide excellent models to address basic questions in cell biology such as the control of genes in response to sex-specific, mating-regulated and cell type-specific cues and the function and targeting of peptide hormones.