scholarly journals The copulatory plug delays ejaculation by rival males and affects sperm competition outcome in house mice

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1617-1630 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sutter ◽  
A. K. Lindholm
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Copulatory Plug

scholarly journals Sperm midpiece length predicts sperm swimming velocity in house mice

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée C. Firman ◽  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Sperm Morphology ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Swimming Velocity ◽  
Sperm Velocity ◽  
Sperm Midpiece ◽  
Sperm Competition Risk ◽  
Sperm Size ◽  
The Relationship

Evolutionary biologists have argued that there should be a positive relationship between sperm size and sperm velocity, and that these traits influence a male's sperm competitiveness. However, comparative analyses investigating the evolutionary associations between sperm competition risk and sperm morphology have reported inconsistent patterns of association, and in vitro sperm competition experiments have further confused the issue; in some species, males with longer sperm achieve more competitive fertilization, while in other species males with shorter sperm have greater sperm competitiveness. Few investigations have attempted to address this problem. Here, we investigated the relationship between sperm morphology and sperm velocity in house mice ( Mus domesticus ). We conducted in vitro sperm velocity assays on males from established selection lines, and found that sperm midpiece size was the only phenotypic predictor of sperm swimming velocity.

scholarly journals Experiments confirm a dispersive phenotype associated with a natural gene drive system

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Niklas Runge ◽  
Anna K. Lindholm
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Local Density ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Gene Drive ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Oestrus Cycle ◽  
Drive Systems ◽  
Average Body ◽  
Average Body Weight

Meiotic drivers are genetic entities that increase their own probability of being transmitted to offspring, usually to the detriment of the rest of the organism, thus ‘selfishly’ increasing their fitness. In many meiotic drive systems, driver-carrying males are less successful in sperm competition, which occurs when females mate with multiple males in one oestrus cycle (polyandry). How do drivers respond to this selection? An observational study found that house mice carrying the t haplotype, a meiotic driver, are more likely to disperse from dense populations. This could help the t avoid detrimental sperm competition, because density is associated with the frequency of polyandry. However, no controlled experiments have been conducted to test these findings. Here, we confirm that carriers of the t haplotype are more dispersive, but we do not find this to depend on the local density. t -carriers with above-average body weight were particularly more likely to disperse than wild-type mice. t -carrying mice were also more explorative but not more active than wild-type mice. These results add experimental support to the previous observational finding that the t haplotype affects the dispersal phenotype in house mice, which supports the hypothesis that dispersal reduces the fitness costs of the t .

scholarly journals Phenotypic plasticity in genitalia: baculum shape responds to sperm competition risk in house mice

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1882) ◽  
pp. 20181086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonçalo I. André ◽  
Renée C. Firman ◽  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Fertilization Success ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Genital Morphology ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Sperm Competition Risk ◽  
Male House ◽  
Male Genital Morphology ◽  
Competition Environment

Males are known to adjust their expenditure on testes growth and sperm production in response to sperm competition risk. Genital morphology can also contribute to competitive fertilization success but whether male genital morphology can respond plastically to the sperm competition environment has received little attention. Here, we exposed male house mice to two different sperm competition environments during their sexual development and quantified phenotypic plasticity in baculum morphology. The sperm competition environment generated plasticity in body growth. Males maturing under sperm competition risk were larger and heavier than males maturing under no sperm competition risk. We used a landmark-based geometric morphometric approach to measure baculum size and shape. Independent of variation in body size, males maintained under risk of sperm competition had a relatively thicker and more distally extended baculum bulb compared with males maintained under no sperm competition risk. Plasticity in baculum shape paralleled evolutionary responses to selection from sperm competition reported in previous studies of house mice. Our findings provide experimental evidence of socially mediated phenotypic plasticity in male genitalia.

scholarly journals Sperm competition risk generates phenotypic plasticity in ovum fertilizability

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1772) ◽  
pp. 20132097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée C. Firman ◽  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Strategic Response ◽  
Fertilization Rates ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reproductive Life ◽  
Sperm Competition Risk ◽  
Future Risk

Theory predicts that sperm competition will generate sexual conflict that favours increased ovum defences against polyspermy. A recent study on house mice has shown that ovum resistance to fertilization coevolves in response to increased sperm fertilizing capacity. However, the capacity for the female gamete to adjust its fertilizability as a strategic response to sperm competition risk has never, to our knowledge, been studied. We sourced house mice ( Mus domesticus ) from natural populations that differ in the level of sperm competition and sperm fertilizing capacity, and manipulated the social experience of females during their sexual development to simulate conditions of either a future ‘risk’ or ‘no risk’ of sperm competition. Consistent with coevolutionary predictions, we found lower fertilization rates in ova produced by females from a high sperm competition population compared with ova from a low sperm competition population, indicating that these populations are divergent in the fertilizability of their ova. More importantly, females exposed to a ‘risk’ of sperm competition produced ova that had greater resistance to fertilization than ova produced by females reared in an environment with ‘no risk’. Consequently, we show that variation in sperm competition risk during development generates phenotypic plasticity in ova fertilizability, which allows females to prepare for prevailing conditions during their reproductive life.

scholarly journals Polyandrous females benefit by producing sons that achieve high reproductive success in a competitive environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1719) ◽  
pp. 2823-2831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renée C. Firman
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Embryo Viability ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Selection History ◽  
Free Ranging

Females of many taxa often copulate with multiple males and incite sperm competition. On the premise that males of high genetic quality are more successful in sperm competition, it has been suggested that females may benefit from polyandry by accruing ‘good genes’ for their offspring. Laboratory studies have shown that multiple mating can increase female fitness through enhanced embryo viability, and have exposed how polyandry influences the evolution of the ejaculate. However, such studies often do not allow for both female mate choice and male–male competition to operate simultaneously. Here, I took house mice (Mus domesticus ) from selection lines that had been evolving with (polygamous) and without (monogamous) sperm competition for 16 generations and, by placing them in free-ranging enclosures for 11 weeks, forced them to compete for access to resources and mates. Parentage analyses revealed that female reproductive success was not influenced by selection history, but there was a significant paternity bias towards males from the polygamous selection lines. Therefore, I show that female house mice benefit from polyandry by producing sons that achieve increased fitness in a semi-natural environment.

scholarly journals Sperm competition does not influence sperm hook morphology in selection lines of house mice

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 856-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. FIRMAN ◽  
L. Y. CHEAM ◽  
L. W. SIMMONS
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
House Mice

scholarly journals Sperm competition and the evolution of the sperm hook in house mice

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 2505-2511 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. FIRMAN ◽  
L. W. SIMMONS
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
House Mice

scholarly journals Sperm competition suppresses gene drive among experimentally evolving populations of house mice

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (20) ◽  
pp. 5784-5792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andri Manser ◽  
Anna K. Lindholm ◽  
Leigh W. Simmons ◽  
Renée C. Firman
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
House Mice ◽  
Gene Drive ◽  
Evolving Populations
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