Journal ArticleDOI
Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid can protect the sperm of other males
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
Insect seminal fluid proteins: identification and function.
TL;DR: Recent identification of insect SFPs is reviewed and the multiple roles these proteins play in the postmating processes of female insects are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Resolving mechanisms of competitive fertilization success in Drosophila melanogaster.
Mollie K. Manier,John M. Belote,Kirstin S. Berben,David Novikov,Will T. Stuart,Scott Pitnick +5 more
TL;DR: Sperm showed more mobility within the female storage organs than expected, with those from the most recent copulation displacing sperm from previous males; however, sperm viability remained consistent over long-term storage and each male's sperm was equally competitive in fertilizing the female's eggs.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sperm wars and the evolution of male fertility
TL;DR: It is argued that future research must consider sperm and seminal fluid components of the ejaculate as a functional unity, and that research at the genomic level will identify the genes that ultimately control male fertility.
Journal ArticleDOI
The seminal symphony: how to compose an ejaculate.
TL;DR: Assessment of the increasing evidence that considering ejaculate composition as a whole (and potential trade-offs among ejaculate components) has important consequences for predictions about male reproductive investment and female responses to ejaculates details how social and environmental effects on ejaculates have potentially far-reaching fitness consequences for both sexes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Protein-specific manipulation of ejaculate composition in response to female mating status in Drosophila melanogaster
TL;DR: The hypothesis that males can adaptively tailor the composition of proteins in the ejaculate, allowing a male to take advantage of the fecundity-stimulating effects of the previous male's ovulin, yet maintaining investment in sex peptide is supported.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Sperm storage and antioxidative enzyme expression in the honey bee, Apis mellifera
TL;DR: The presence of catalase transcripts in both reproductive tissues and semen in bees suggests that this enzyme might play a key role in antioxidative protection, and antioxidative enzyme transcripts remained present, and apparently increased, in male tissues long after sperm had matured and seminal fluid was produced.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sperm death and dumping in Drosophila
Rhonda R. Snook,David J. Hosken +1 more
TL;DR: It is shown that seminal fluids do not kill rival sperm and that any 'incapacitation' is probably due to sperm ageing during sperm storage, and that females release stored sperm from the reproductive tract after copulation with a second male and that this requires neither incoming sperm nor seminal fluids.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid protein Acp62F is a protease inhibitor that is toxic upon ectopic expression.
Oliver Lung,Uyen Tram,Casey M. Finnerty,Marcie A Eipper-Mains,John M. Kalb,Mariana F. Wolfner +5 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that Acp62F's protease inhibitor activity exerts positive protective functions in the mated female's reproductive tract but that entry of a small amount of this protein into the female's hemolymph could contribute to the cost of mating.
Journal ArticleDOI
A genome-wide analysis of courting and mating responses in Drosophila melanogaster females.
TL;DR: A whole-genome oligonucleotide chip experiment is used to identify candidate genes involved in the female side of post-mating sexual interactions in Drosophila melanogaster and reveals 23 genes differentially expressed between virgin females exposed and unexposed to courting males, and 38 genes differentiated between virgin and recently mated females.
Journal ArticleDOI
The developments between gametogenesis and fertilization: ovulation and female sperm storage in Drosophila melanogaster.
TL;DR: The processes of ovulation and sperm storage for Drosophila melanogaster are reviewed, whose requirements for gamete maturation and spermstorage as well as powerful molecular genetics make it an excellent model organism for study of these processes.