Selection for longer lived sperm within ejaculate reduces reproductive ageing in offspring.

ABSTRACT: Males produce numerous sperm in a single ejaculate that greatly outnumber their potential egg targets. Recent studies found that phenotypic and genotypic variation among sperm in a single ejaculate of a male affects the fitness and performance of the resulting offspring. Specifically, within-ejaculate sperm selection for sperm longevity increased the performance of the resulting offspring in several key life-history traits in early life. Because increased early-life reproductive performance often correlates with rapid ageing, it is possible that within-ejaculate sperm selection increases early-life fitness at the cost of accelerated senescence. Alternatively, within-ejaculate sperm selection could improve offspring quality throughout the life cycle, including reduced age-specific deteriora

SUBMITTER: Alavioon G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6591544 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature