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126 results for “sperm competition”
Data from: Competition among eggs shifts to cooperation along a sperm supply gradient in an external fertilizer
Purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, are broadcast spawners. Empirical and theoretical exploration of this trade-off in broadcast spawners has focused heavily on the role of sperm availability. In contrast, the particular manner in which egg concentrations alter both fertilization and polyspermy remains less explored. These data are from a laboratory experiment with a factorial design (six sperm concentrations x four egg concentrations replicated across multiple male-female pairs), to measure fertilization and polyspermy of purple sea urchins. Data were used to evaluate the impact of egg concentration on fertilization, and to explicitly test for random versus nonlinear sperm-egg collision rates. A new dynamic model was developed that expands upon existing models. Observations of fertilization and polyspermy were also used to parameterize and compare the performance of existing models that included random or or nonlinear collision parameters by utilizing several different basic model forms. For more information, see paper with published results or data set methods. Results for these data are pulished in Okamoto. D. K. 2016 Competition among eggs shifts to cooperation along a sperm supply gradient in an external fertilizer. The American Naturalist. 187:5, E129-E142. DOI: 10.1086/685813
Within-population sperm competition intensity does not predict asymmetry in conpopulation sperm precedence
Postcopulatory sexual selection can generate evolutionary arms races between the sexes resulting in the rapid coevolution of reproductive phenotypes. As traits affecting fertilization success diverge between populations, postmating prezygotic (PMPZ) barriers to gene flow may evolve. Conspecific sperm precedence is a form of PMPZ isolation thought to evolve early during speciation yet has mostly been studied between species. Here , we show conpopulation sperm precedence (CpSP) between Drosophila montana populations. Using Pool-seq genomic data we estimate divergence times and ask whether PMPZ isolation evolved in the face of gene flow. We find models incorporating gene flow fit the data best indicating populations experienced considerable gene flow during divergence. We find CpSP is asymmetric and mirrors asymmetry in non-competitive PMPZ isolation, suggesting these phenomena have a shared mechanism. However, we show asymmetry is unrelated to the strength of postcopulatory sexual selection acting within populations. We tested whether overlapping foreign and coevolved ejaculates within the female reproductive tract altered fertilization success but found no effect. Our results show that neither time since divergence nor sperm competitiveness predicts the strength of PMPZ isolation. We suggest that instead cryptic female choice or mutation-order divergence may drive divergence of postcopulatory phenotypes resulting in PMPZ isolation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.
Sperm competition favours intermediate sperm size in a hermaphrodite
<div> <p>Sperm competition is a potent mechanism of post-copulatory sexual selection that has been found to shape reproductive morphologies and behaviours in promiscuous animals. Especially sperm size has been argued to evolve in response to sperm competition through its effect on sperm longevity, sperm motility, the ability to displace competing sperm and ultimately fertilization success. Additionally, sperm size has been observed to co-evolve with female reproductive morphology. Theoretical work predicts that sperm competition may select for longer sperm but may also favour shorter sperm if sperm size trades off with number. In this study, we studied the relationship between sperm size and post-mating success in the free-living flatworm, <em>Macrostomum lignano</em>. Specifically, we used inbred isolines of <em>M. lignano </em>that varied in sperm size to investigate how sperm size translated into the ability of worms to transfer and deposit sperm in a mating partner. Our results revealed a hump-shaped relationship with individuals producing sperm of intermediate size having highest sperm competitiveness. This finding broadens our understanding of the evolution of sperm morphology by providing empirical support for stabilizing selection on sperm size under sperm competition.</p> </div>
Male sexual signaling and expected effects of hatchery-induced sperm competition vary with water depth at which whitefish are caught
<div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Salmonids like whitefish (<em>Coregonus</em> spp.) are often propagated in supportive breeding. Spawners are caught from their spawning locations, their gametes mixed, and the resulting offspring reared in a protected environment before being released into the wild. This procedure can affect sexual selection, for example, by enhancing the importance of sperm competition or by reducing the relevance of sexual signals. While it is often unclear how sperm competitiveness is affected by a male's overall genetic quality, there is accumulating evidence that sexual signals reveal good genes and that mate choice based on such signals can increase offspring viability (Auld et al. 2019). Therefore, supportive breeding may affect the genetic variance and the mean genetic quality of next generations. We sampled whitefish from various locations along a depth gradient to test how male characteristics that are likely to affect sexual selection under natural conditions correlate with characteristics that affect hatchery-induced sperm competition. Whitefish are external fertilizers, and multi-male spawning and hence sperm competition is common under natural conditions. Mate choice is not sufficiently understood but could be based on breeding tubercles. These are small conical structures that grow on scales before the breeding sea- son and fall off shortly afterwards. The size of breeding tubercles varies much among males and has repeatedly been found to correlate positively with offspring viability (Wedekind et al. 2001; Keka ̈la ̈inen et al. 2010). Male dominance is typically depend- ent on body size (Auld et al. 2019) and could also be relevant in whitefish. Body size itself can reflect individual inbreeding coefficients (Su et al. 1996) and be an indicator of heritable genetic quality in small or structured populations (Neff and Pitcher 2008). In another fish with a somewhat comparable mating system, the size of breeding tubercles and male size was not correlated but could both be used to predict male reproductive success under close to natural conditions (Jacob et al. 2009). We study whitefish from Lake Hallwil (Switzerland). This lake has suffered so much from anthropogenic eutrophication that it is being artificially aerated since 1985. Three hatcheries around the lake are likely to have played a key role in maintaining the whitefish population, as concluded also from a recent mark–recapture experiment (Vonlanthen 2015). However, eutrophication combined with possible hybridization in hatcheries can have led to a speciation reversal (Vonlanthen et al. 2012) and may thereby have destroyed any genetic structure linked to water depth. Hatchery protocols now focus on maintaining over-all genetic variance by pooling milt of many males before adding the mix to eggs of multiple females. Milt volume varies among sires, for example, because males often lose milt when being pulled up from deep locations (Figure 1), an effect that likely depends on how much the swim bladder is inflated by the change in pressure. This variance in milt volume is likely to affect the genetic variance that, in combination with the average genetic quality, may then affect the long-term survival of a population. The extent to which hatchery protocols affect genetic quality can be estimated by the correlations between male quality indicators and traits that affect hatchery-induced sperm competition, that is, sperm number, velocity, and longevity (summarized here as "milt potency," see also Supplementary Material). Many breeding protocols are likely to promote genetic quality if male attractiveness or dominance are positively correlated to milt potency. If there are no such correlations or negative ones because of life-history trade-offs, hatchery-induced sperm competition is likely to reduce the average genetic quality in future generations. We sampled fish from various depths and determined their age, size, breeding ornamentation, and milt potency (see methods in the Supplementary Material) to test whether and how different male characteristics affect reproductive success in supportive breeding in a heavily managed population.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div>
Sperm competition favours intermediate sperm size in a hermaphrodite
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Within-population sperm competition intensity does not predict asymmetry in conpopulation sperm precedence
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Male sexual signaling and expected effects of hatchery-induced sperm competition vary with water depth at which whitefish are caught
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Increased sperm production linked to competition in the maternal social environment
<p>Maternal or early life effects may prepare offspring for similar social conditions to those experienced by their mothers. For males, the ability to achieve mating and fertilisation success is a key social challenge. Competitive conditions may therefore favour increased body size or ejaculate production in male offspring. We tested this experimentally by comparing reproductive traits of adult male bank voles (<i>Myodes glareolus</i>), whose mothers had experienced contrasting encounter regimes with female conspecifics while breeding. We found that daily sperm production rates and epididymis mass were significantly higher when dams had experienced more frequent encounters with female conspecifics. This response to maternal and early life experience was specific to sperm production and storage, with no evidence for effects on male body mass or the size of testes and accessory reproductive glands. Our findings reveal a potentially adaptive effect of maternal and early-life experience on the development of sperm production, which is worthy of wider investigation.</p>
Data from: Effects of condition and sperm competition risk on sperm allocation and storage in neriid flies
<p>Ejaculate traits can be sexually selected and often exhibit heightened condition-dependence. However, the influence of sperm competition risk in tandem with condition-dependent ejaculate allocation strategies is relatively unstudied. Because ejaculates are costly to produce, high-condition males may be expected to invest more in ejaculates when sperm competition risk is greater. We examined the condition-dependence of ejaculate size by manipulating nutrient concentration in the juvenile (larval) diet of the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis. Using a fully factorial design we also examined the effects of perceived sperm competition risk (manipulated by allowing males to mate first or second) on the quantity of ejaculate transferred and stored in the three spermathecae of the female reproductive tract. To differentiate male ejaculates, we fed males non-toxic rhodamine fluorophores (which bind to proteins in the body) prior to mating, labelling their sperm red or green. We found that high-condition males initiated mating more quickly and, when mating second, transferred more ejaculate to both of the female's posterior spermathecae. This suggests that males allocate ejaculates strategically, with high-condition males elevating their ejaculate investment only when facing sperm competition. More broadly, our findings suggest that ejaculate allocation strategies can incorporate variation in both condition and perceived risk of sperm competition.</p>
Data from: Sperm competitive advantage of a rare mitochondrial haplogroup linked to differential expression of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation genes
Maternal inheritance of mitochondria creates a sex-specific selective sieve through which mitochondrial mutations harmful to males but not females accumulate and contribute to sexual differences in longevity and disease susceptibility. Because eggs and sperm are under disruptive selection, sperm are predicted to be particularly vulnerable to the genetic load generated by maternal inheritance, yet evidence for mitochondrial involvement in male fertility is limited and controversial. Here, we exploit the coexistence of two divergent mitochondrial haplogroups (A and B2) in a Neotropical arachnid to investigate the role of mitochondria in sperm competition. DNA profiling demonstrated that B2-carrying males sired more than three times as many offspring in sperm competition experiments than A males, and this B2 competitive advantage cannot be explained by female mitochondrial haplogroup or male nuclear genetic background. RNA-Seq of testicular tissues implicates differential expression of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes in the B2 competitive advantage, including a 22-fold upregulation of <i>atp8</i> in B2 males. Previous comparative genomic analyses have revealed functionally significant amino acid substitutions in differentially expressed genes, indicating that the mitochondrial haplogroups differ not only in expression but also in DNA sequence and protein functioning. However, mitochondrial haplogroup had no effect on sperm number or sperm viability, and, when females were mated to a single male, neither male haplogroup, female haplogroup nor the interaction between male/female haplogroup significantly affected female reproductive success. Our findings therefore suggest that mitochondrial effects on male reproduction may often go undetected in noncompetitive contexts and may prove more important in nature than is currently appreciated.
Sequential_Sperm_Competition: Mathematica Code
<p>Mathematica code for the study "Female sperm use and storage between fertilization events drive sperm competition and male ejaculate allocation"</p>
Sperm production and allocation in response to risks of sperm competition in the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens
<p>Dataset and R script used in the study: "Sperm production and allocation in response to risks of sperm competition in the black soldier fly Hermetia illucens".</p>
Sperm competition experiment with lake char (Lake Geneva 2017/18)
<p><span>Male and female wild lake char (</span><em>Salvelinus umbla</em>) <span>were sampled from Lake Geneva in December 2017 and December 2018. Male size and colouration (all samples, N = 34) were compared to milt characteristics. For the 2017 samples, m</span><span>ilt characteristics were also determined after sperm activation in diluted ovarian fluid or </span><span>water only, and the gametes were used in sperm competition trials:</span><span> Equal numbers of sperm competed for fertilization in the presence or absence of ovarian fluids. The resulting embryos were raised singly in an environment that supports symbiotic microbes (sublethal stress) or in a clean environment, and microsatellite markers were used to assign in total 1,464 embryos (from 70 experimental trials) to their fathers. Overall, the sperm of more colourful males were faster and reached higher fertilization success than the sperm of pale males. These differences were enhanced by the presence of ovarian fluids. The primary sex ratio did not differ among families and was about 1:1. Female embryos hatched on average later and showed lower stress tolerance than male embryos. There were significant parental effects on offspring growth and mortality, but the sex differences in embryo performance were not family-specific. Offspring of yellow males seemed less stress-tolerant than those of pale males, and embryo development was slowed down with increasing genetic similarity between the parents.</span></p>
Inbreeding and kinship coefficients of parents of sperm competition experiment with lake char (Lake Geneva 2017/18)
<p>A total of 14 lake char (<em>Salvelinus umbla</em>) were genotyped in the same library using ddRADsequencing. The data includes 14 gzipped .fastq files generated using 2 lanes of sequencing on an Illumina HIseq 2500 and the final dataset with the final estimates of kinship and inbreeding. For each individual, the fastq files of the 2 sequencings lanes were merged after demultiplexing using <em>process_radtags</em> (Stacks 1.48). We provide the bash and R scripts that we used. There are no legal or ethical considerations regarding the above-mentioned data.</p>
Data for: Ranking the importance of factors driving siring success during sperm competition in the North African houbara bustard
<p><span>Sperm competition is a powerful force driving the evolution of ejaculate and sperm traits. However, the outcome of sperm competition depends on many traits that extend beyond ejaculate quality. Here, we studied male North African houbara bustards (</span><em><span>Chlamydotis undulata undulata</span></em><span>) competing for egg fertilization, after artificial insemination, with the aim to rank the importance of 14 parameters as drivers of siring success. Using a machine learning approach, we showed that traits independent of male quality (i.e., insemination order, delay between insemination and egg laying) were the most important predictors of siring success. Traits describing intrinsic male quality (i.e., number of sperm in the ejaculate, mass motility index) were also positively associated with siring success, but their contribution to explaining the outcome of sperm competition was much lower than for insemination order. Overall, this analysis shows that males mating at the last position in the mating sequence have the best chance to win the competition for egg fertilization. This raises the question of the importance of female behavior as determinant of mating order. </span></p>
Data for: A predominant role of genotypic variation in both expression of sperm competition genes and paternity success in Drosophila melanogaster
<p>The study focuses on investigating the impact of both environmental and genotypic variations on the expression of sperm competition genes and relative paternity success (i.e. second male paternity; P2) in Drosophila melanogaster. To address this, the research leverages the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) inbred lines and introduces manipulation of developmental population density, specifically larval density. This experimental design allows for the examination of the effects of genotype, environment, and potential genotype-environment interactions (GEI) on the expression of seminal fluid genes, namely Sex Peptide, Acp36DE, and CG9997 and sperm competitiveness. In light of the observed genotypic influence on genes' expression, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was also conducted for Sex Peptide and Acp36DE.</p>
Increased sperm production linked to competition in the maternal social environment
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The transfer of male cuticular hydrocarbons provides a reliable cue of the risk and intensity of sperm competition in decorated crickets
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Data for: Ranking the importance of factors driving siring success during sperm competition in the North African houbara bustard
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Data from: No evidence for phenotypic condition-dependent ejaculate allocation in response to sperm competition in a seed beetle
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