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8 results for “sperm speed”
Data from: Dunnock social status correlates with sperm speed, but fast sperm does not always equal high fitness
<p>Sperm competition theory predicts that males should modulate sperm investment according to their social status. Sperm speed, one proxy of sperm quality, also influences the outcome of sperm competition because fast sperm cells may fertilize eggs before slow sperm cells. We evaluated whether the social status of males predicted their sperm speed in a wild population of dunnocks (<em>Prunella modularis</em>). In addition to the traditional analysis of the average speed of sperm cells per sample, we also analyzed subsamples of the fastest sperm cells per sample. In other words, we systematically evaluated the effects of including different numbers of the fastest sperm in our analyses, ranging from the 5-fastest sperm cells to the 100-fastest sperm cells in a sample. We further evaluated whether fitness, defined here as the number of chicks sired per male per breeding season, relates to the sperm speed in the same population. We found that males in monogamous pairings (i.e. low levels of sperm competition), produced the slowest sperm cells whereas subordinate males in polyandrous male-male coalitions, (i.e. high levels of sperm competition), produced the fastest sperm cells. This result was consistent regardless of the number of fastest sperm included in our analyses, but statistical support was conditional on the number of sperm cells included in the analysis. Interestingly, we found no significant relationship between fitness and sperm speed, which suggests that it is possible that the differential mating opportunities across social status leveled out any possible difference. Our study also suggests that it is important to identify biologically meaningful subsets of fastest sperm and cutoffs for inclusions for assessing sperm competition via sperm speed</p>
Data from: Dunnock social status correlates with sperm speed, but fast sperm does not always equal high fitness
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Data from: A sex-linked supergene controls sperm morphology and swimming speed in a songbird
Sperm are perhaps the most diverse cells in the animal kingdom, with enormous morphological variation between taxa, between species, between males and within an ejaculate. Considerable interest in sperm diversity has arisen following the realisation that sperm competition (post-copulatory sexual selection) is a powerful selective force in many organisms, and that sperm morphology has co-evolved with female reproductive tract morphology. However, the relationship between sperm morphology, sperm motility and fertilisation success is only partially understood. The extent to which between-male variation is heritable is largely unknown, and remarkably few studies have investigated the genetic architecture of sperm traits, especially sperm morphology. Here we use high-density genotyping and gene expression profiling to explore the considerable sperm trait variation that exists in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata. We show that nearly all of the genetic variation in sperm morphology is caused by an inversion polymorphism on the Z chromosome acting as a 'supergene'. These results provide a striking example of two evolutionary genetic predictions. First, that in species where females are the heterogametic sex, genetic variation affecting sexually dimorphic traits will accumulate on the Z chromosome. Second, recombination suppression at the inversion allows beneficial dominant alleles to become fixed on whichever haplotype they first arise, without being exchanged onto other haplotypes. Finally, we show that the inversion polymorphism will be stably maintained by heterozygote advantage, because heterozygous males have the fastest and most successful sperm with no apparent fitness cost.
Data from: Positive size-speed relationships in gametes and vegetative cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; implications for the evolution of sperm.
It is commonly held that differences in gametes of the two sexes (anisogamy) evolved from ancestors whose gametes were similar in size and behaviour (isogamy). Underlying many hypotheses explaining anisogamy are assumed relationships between cell size and speed in the ancestral isogamous population. Using the isogamous alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, we explored size-speed distributions in vegetative and gamete cells of ten cell lines, and clonal data from within two cell lines. We applied an independent speed selection approach to gamete populations of C. reinhardtii, monitoring correlated responses in size following selection for high speed. We demonstrate positive size-speed relationships in clones, cell lines and artificially selected speed selection lines. We found different size-speed relationships in the two cell types of C. reinhardtii even though they overlap in size, suggesting that cell composition and/or programs of gene expression are capable of altering this relationship, and that the relationship is evolvable. The positive genetic size-speed correlation means that the division of parent vegetative cells into numerous gametes trades off against not only size but also speed, a trade-off that has not received previous attention. Our results support re-evaluating the role of speed selection in the evolution of anisogamy.
Data from: Sperm head morphology is associated with sperm swimming speed: a comparative study of songbirds using electron microscopy
Sperm exhibit extraordinary levels of morphological diversification across the animal kingdom. In songbirds, sperm have a helically shaped head incorporating a distinct acrosomal membrane or 'helical keel', the form and extent of which varies across species. The functional significance of this helical shape, however, remains unknown. Using scanning electron microscopy, we quantified inter- and intra-specific variation in sperm head morphology across 36 songbird species (Passeriformes: Passerida). Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we investigated the relationship between sperm head morphology and both sperm swimming speed and the frequency of extra-pair young (EPY). We found that species whose sperm had a relatively more pronounced helical form (i.e. long acrosome, short nucleus, wide helical membrane, and a more pronounced waveform along the sperm head 'core') had faster-swimming sperm. We found no evidence of a relationship between inter-specific variation in sperm head morphology and EPY, although we did find that among- and within-male variation in sperm head traits were negatively correlated with EPY. Applying principles of fluid mechanics, we discuss how the helical form of the sperm head may influence swimming speed, and suggest that further studies considering aspects of sperm morphology beyond sperm length are needed to improve our understanding of sperm structure-function relationships.
Data from: Positive size-speed relationships in gametes and vegetative cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; implications for the evolution of sperm.
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Data from: Sperm head morphology is associated with sperm swimming speed: a comparative study of songbirds using electron microscopy
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Data from: A sex-linked supergene controls sperm morphology and swimming speed in a songbird
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
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