Self-sperm induce resistance to the detrimental effects of sexual encounters with males in hermaphroditic nematodes.

ABSTRACT: Sexual interactions have a potent influence on health in several species, including mammals. Previous work in C. elegans identified strategies used by males to accelerate the demise of the opposite sex (hermaphrodites). But whether hermaphrodites evolved counter-strategies against males remains unknown. Here we discover that young C. elegans hermaphrodites are remarkably resistant to brief sexual encounters with males, whereas older hermaphrodites succumb prematurely. Surprisingly, it is not their youthfulness that protects young hermaphrodites, but the fact that they have self-sperm. The beneficial effect of self-sperm is mediated by a sperm-sensing pathway acting on the soma rather than by fertilization. Activation of this pathway in females triggers protection from the negative impact o

SUBMITTER: Booth LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6697445 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature