Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2022 Jun 15;225(12). doi: 10.1242/jeb.244282. Epub 2022 Jun 22.
Sex-specific differences in animal behavior commonly reflect unique reproductive interests. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, hermaphrodites can reproduce without a mate and thus prioritize feeding to satisfy the high energetic costs of reproduction. However, males, which must mate to reproduce, sacrifice feeding to prioritize mate-searching behavior. Here, we demonstrate that these behavioral differences influence sexual dimorphism at the organelle level; young males raised on a rich food source show constitutive induction of gut tubular lysosomes, a non-canonical lysosome morphology that forms in the gut of hermaphrodites when food is limited or as animals age. We found that constitutive induction of gut tubular lysosomes in males results from self-imposed dietary restriction through DAF-7/TGFβ, which promotes exploratory behavior. In contrast, age-dependent induction of gut tubular lysosomes in hermaphrodites is stimulated by self-fertilization activity. Thus, separate reproductive tradeoffs influence tubular lysosome induction in each sex, potentially supporting different requirements for reproductive success.
动物行为中的性别特异性差异通常反映了独特的生殖利益。在秀丽隐杆线虫中，雌雄同体可以在没有配偶的情况下繁殖，因此优先进食以满足生殖的高能量成本。然而，雄性必须交配才能繁殖，因此会牺牲进食来优先寻找配偶。在这里，我们证明这些行为差异会影响细胞器层面的性二态性；在丰富的食物来源中饲养的年轻雄性会持续诱导肠道管状溶酶体，这是一种非典型的溶酶体形态，当食物有限或动物衰老时，会在雌雄同体的肠道中形成。我们发现，雄性肠道管状溶酶体的持续诱导是由 DAF-7/TGFβ 自我施加的饮食限制引起的，这种限制促进了探索行为。相比之下，雌雄同体肠道管状溶酶体的年龄依赖性诱导是由自体受精活动刺激的。因此，不同的生殖权衡影响着每个性别的管状溶酶体诱导，这可能为生殖成功提供了不同的需求。
