Effects of singing on copulation success and egg production in brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater

We examined the relationship between singing and reproductive success in cowbirds. We amassed data from 17 captive flocks (164 males, 167 females) that we have studied over 4 years. For each flock, we conducted extensive observations on social interactions as the birds competed, courted, and reproduced. We collected and incubated all eggs laid during the breeding season and performed parentage analyses on the 7 flocks with the highest levels of egg production. Finally, we measured males' song quality in playback tests. Here, we assessed what aspects of singing were associated with 1) copulation success and 2) offspring production. Results differed for these 2 measures of reproductive success because of high variance in egg production within and across groups. The overall amount of songs males directed to females, a measure of courtship persistence, was the one variable strongly associated with males' copulation success. For offspring production, there was significant between-flock variability that was more pronounced than the within-group variability. The one variable that was found to be strongly associated with eggs laid within and across groups was the amount of countersinging males produced; a measure of male--male singing competition. Song attractiveness did not predict any unique variance in either measure of reproductive success. The relationship between female egg production and male competition suggests that females may be trading off current versus future reproduction based on the opportunities available in groups to evaluate males' competitive abilities. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Calmodulin Mediates the Ca2+-Dependent Regulation of Cx44 Gap Junctions

We have shown previously that the Ca2+-dependent inhibition of lens epithelial cell-to-cell communication is mediated in part by the direct association of calmodulin (CaM) with connexin43 (Cx43), the major connexin in these cells. We now show that elevation of [Ca2+]i in HeLa cells transfected with the lens fiber cell gap junction protein sheep Cx44 also results in the inhibition of cell-to-cell dye transfer. A peptide comprising the putative CaM binding domain (aa 129–150) of the intracellular loop region of this connexin exhibited a high affinity, stoichiometric interaction with Ca2+-CaM. NMR studies indicate that the binding of Cx44 peptide to CaM reflects a classical embracing mode of interaction. The interaction is an exothermic event that is both enthalpically and entropically driven in which electrostatic interactions play an important role. The binding of the Cx44 peptide to CaM increases the CaM intradomain cooperativity and enhances the Ca2+-binding affinities of the C-domain of CaM more than twofold by slowing the rate of Ca2+ release from the complex. Our data suggest a common mechanism by which the Ca2+-dependent inhibition of the α-class of gap junction proteins is mediated by the direct association of an intracellular loop region of these proteins with Ca2+-CaM