Overexpression of an antioxidant enzyme improves male mating performance after stress in a lek-mating fruit fly.

ABSTRACT: In many species, courtship displays are reliable signals of male quality, and current hypotheses suggest that these displays allow females to choose males with high cellular function. Environmental stressors generate excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) that impair cellular function, and thus antioxidant pathways that remove ROS are probably critical for preserving complex sexual behaviours. Here, we test the hypothesis that enhanced antioxidant activity in mitochondria preserves mating performance following oxidative stress. Using a transgenic approach, we directly manipulated mitochondrial antioxidant activity in the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa, a lek-mating species with elaborate sexual displays and intense sexual selection that is also a model for sterile insect technique

SUBMITTER: Teets NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6571480 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature