Long-sperm precedence and other cryptic female choices in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>.

ABSTRACT: Females that mate multiply make postmating choices about which sperm fertilize their eggs (cryptic female choice); however, the male characteristics they use to make such choices remain unclear. In this study, we sought to understand female sperm use patterns by evaluating whether Drosophila melanogaster females adjust sperm use (second male paternity) in response to four main factors: male genotype, male courtship effort, male pheromone alteration, and male postmating reproductive morphology. Our experiment was replicated across four different D. melanogaster lines, in a full factorial design, including a pheromone manipulation in which second males were perfumed to resemble heterospecific (D. yakuba) males. We found that females prefer longer sperm-regardless of mati

SUBMITTER: Peckenpaugh B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11071617 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature