Arc1 is not required for male fertility or sperm competition success.

Activity-regulated cytoskeleton associated protein (Arc1), which is required for synaptic plasticity and metabolism in , self-assembles into capsid-like structures that transport mRNAs in extracellular vesicles. In addition to expression in the brain and nervous system, is expressed in the male accessory glands, an endothelial tissue that produces male seminal proteins and exosomes that impact male fertility. We thus hypothesized that might impact male fertility. We measured the fertility, mating latency, mating duration, and sperm competition performance of males relative to controls and found no evidence that is required for any of these measures of male fertility.