Simmons Leigh W, Lovegrove Maxine
Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2017 Aug 30;284(1861). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1486.
There is considerable evidence that males will increase the number of sperm ejaculated in response to sperm competition risk. However, whether they have the capacity to adjust seminal fluid components of the ejaculate has received less attention. Male crickets () have been shown to adjust the viability of sperm in their ejaculate in response to sperm competition risk. Here we show that socially mediated plasticity in sperm viability is probably due, at least in part, to male adjustments in the protein composition of the seminal fluid. Seven seminal fluid protein genes were found to have an increased expression in males exposed to rival calls. Increased expression of these genes was correlated with increased sperm viability in whole ejaculates, and gene knockdown confirmed that at least one of these proteins promotes sperm viability. Our results lend support for recent theoretical models that predict complex responses in male allocation to seminal fluid composition in response to sperm competition risk.
有大量证据表明，雄性会因精子竞争风险而增加射精量。然而，它们是否有能力调整射精精液的成分却较少受到关注。雄性蟋蟀已被证明会根据精子竞争风险来调整射精精液中精子的活力。在这里，我们表明，精子活力的社会介导可塑性可能至少部分归因于雄性对精液蛋白质组成的调整。发现七个精液蛋白质基因在暴露于对手叫声的雄性中表达增加。这些基因表达的增加与整个射精精液中精子活力的增加相关，基因敲除证实这些蛋白质中至少有一种促进精子活力。我们的结果支持了最近的理论模型，该模型预测雄性在应对精子竞争风险时对精液成分的分配会有复杂的反应。
