The ecological and evolutionary consequences of sperm chemoattraction.

ABSTRACT: Chemical communication between sperm and egg is a critical factor mediating sexual reproduction. Sperm attractants may be significant evolutionarily for maintaining species barriers, and important ecologically for increasing gamete encounters. Still unresolved, however, are the functional consequences of these dissolved signal molecules. Here, we provide experimental evidence that sperm chemoattraction directly affects the magnitude of fertilization success. The recent discovery of L-tryptophan as a potent attractant to red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) sperm affords the opportunity to quantify how navigation affects gamete interactions. Sperm behavioral responses to manipulations of the natural tryptophan gradient around individual eggs reveals that both chemotaxis and chemokinesis signifi

SUBMITTER: Riffell JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC384776 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature