Setor de Histologia e Embriologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil.
Departamento de Biologia Celular e Molecular e Bioagentes Patogênicos, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
Micron. 2024 Jul;182:103637. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2024.103637. Epub 2024 Apr 18.
The ultrastructure of snake sperm has received substantial attention primarily because snakes exhibit considerable variability in reproductive characteristics between species, with a wide range of mating systems and reproductive behaviors. Variability of sperm morphology among snake species may be associated with the reproductive strategies of each taxon, such as competition or sperm storage. We provide a detailed description of the sperm ultrastructure of nine snake species (Anilius scytale, Tropidophis paucisquamis, Bothrops jararaca, Oxyrhopus guibei, Dipsas mikanii, Micrurus corallinus, Xenopholis scalaris, Acrochordus javanicus, and Cylindrophis ruffus) and compared this with sperm data from the literature for the following taxa: Liotyphlops beui, Amerotyphlops reticulatus, Trilepida koppesi, Anilios waitii, Anilios endoterus, Aspidites melanochephalus, Boa constrictor amarali, Corallus hortulana, Epicrates cenchria, Boa constrictor occidentalis, Eryx jayakari, Micrurus corallinus, Micrurus surinamensis, Micrurus frontalis, Micrurus altirostris, Oxyuranus microlepidotus, Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops diporus, Crotalus durissus, Agkistrodon contortrix, Vipera aspis, Boiga irregularis, Zamenis schrenckii, Zamenis scalaris, Stegonotus cuculatus, Nerodia sipedon, Liodytes pygaea, and Myrrophis chinensis. We found twelve polymorphic characters in the ultrastructure of sperm among the described snakes. Our work supports the importance of ultrastructural analysis of sperm morphology to understand snake reproduction, and provides sperm-derived morphological characters for phylogenetic analysis.
蛇类精子的超微结构受到了广泛关注，主要是因为蛇类在物种间的繁殖特征上存在着相当大的变异性，具有广泛的交配系统和繁殖行为。蛇类物种间精子形态的变异性可能与每个分类群的繁殖策略有关，例如竞争或精子储存。我们详细描述了 9 种蛇类（Anilius scytale、Tropidophis paucisquamis、Bothrops jararaca、Oxyrhopus guibei、Dipsas mikanii、Micrurus corallinus、Xenopholis scalaris、Acrochordus javanicus 和 Cylindrophis ruffus）的精子超微结构，并将其与以下分类群的文献中的精子数据进行了比较：Liotyphlops beui、Amerotyphlops reticulatus、Trilepida koppesi、Anilios waitii、Anilios endoterus、Aspidites melanochephalus、Boa constrictor amarali、Corallus hortulana、Epicrates cenchria、Boa constrictor occidentalis、Eryx jayakari、Micrurus corallinus、Micrurus surinamensis、Micrurus frontalis、Micrurus altirostris、Oxyuranus microlepidotus、Bothrops alternatus、Bothrops diporus、Crotalus durissus、Agkistrodon contortrix、Vipera aspis、Boiga irregularis、Zamenis schrenckii、Zamenis scalaris、Stegonotus cuculatus、Nerodia sipedon、Liodytes pygaea 和 Myrrophis chinensis。我们在描述的蛇类精子超微结构中发现了 12 个多态性特征。我们的工作支持精子形态超微结构分析对理解蛇类繁殖的重要性，并为系统发育分析提供了精子衍生的形态特征。
