Additional information on the procedures employed to measure sperm motility parameters and extended statistical results

Boris Baer (1892314)

Jacobus J. Boomsma (204149)

Joanito Liberti (549249)

Biology Letters

PubMed

Liberti, Joanito

Baer, Boris

Boomsma, Jacobus Jan

Copenhagen University Research Information System

English

Queen reproductive tract secretions enhance sperm motility in ants


            Queens of
            Acromyrmex
            leaf-cutting ants store sperm of multiple males after a single mating flight, and never remate even though they may live for decades and lay tens of thousands of eggs. Sperm of different males are initially transferred to the bursa copulatrix and compete for access to the long-term storage organ of queens, but the factors determining storage success or failure have never been studied. We used
            in vitro
            experiments to show that reproductive tract secretions of
            Acromyrmex echinatior
            queens increase sperm swimming performance by at least 50% without discriminating between sperm of brothers and unrelated males. Indiscriminate female-induced sperm chemokinesis makes the likelihood of storage directly dependent on initial sperm viability and thus provides a simple mechanism to secure maximal possible reproductive success of queens, provided that initial sperm motility is an accurate predictor of viability during later egg fertilization.
          </jats:p

Joanito Liberti

Boris Baer

Jacobus J. Boomsma

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Extended methods and results from Queen reproductive tract secretions enhance sperm motility in ants

Queens of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants store sperm of multiple males after a single mating flight, and never remate even though they may live for decades and lay tens of thousands of eggs. Sperm of different males are initially transferred to the bursa copulatrix and compete for access to the long-term storage organ of queens, but the factors determining storage success or failure have never been studied. We used in vitro experiments to show that reproductive tract secretions of Acromyrmex echinatior queens increase sperm swimming performance by at least 50% without discriminating between sperm of brothers and unrelated males. Indiscriminate female-induced sperm chemokinesis makes the likelihood of storage directly dependent on initial sperm viability and thus provides a simple mechanism to secure maximal possible reproductive success of queens, provided that initial sperm motility is an accurate predictor of viability during later egg fertilization

Boomsma, Jacobus J

eScholarship - University of California

Extended methods and results from Queen reproductive tract secretions enhance sperm motility in ants

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Copenhagen University Research Information System

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eScholarship - University of California