The effect of seminal fluid gene expression on paternity.

ABSTRACT: When females mate with more than one male, competition between rival ejaculates is expected to favor adaptations that promote fertilization success. There is now compelling evidence that sperm competition selects for increased production and allocation of sperm. However, sperm comes packaged in ejaculates that also contain protein-rich seminal fluids. Predicting how males should allocate individual seminal fluid proteins in response to sperm competition is hampered by our limited knowledge of their precise function. We use gene expression studies and interference RNA to ask how seminal fluid proteins in the ejaculate of a cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, affect a male's paternity share when in competition for fertilizations. We find that the relative expression of one seminal fluid

SUBMITTER: Simmons LW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10565890 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature