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Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird

Sperm competition, in which the ejaculates of multiple males compete to fertilize a female's ova, results in strong selection on sperm traits. Although sperm size and swimming velocity are known to independently affect fertilization success in certain species, exploring the relationship between...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bennison, Clair, Hemmings, Nicola, Slate, Jon, Birkhead, Tim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25621327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1897
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author Bennison, Clair
Hemmings, Nicola
Slate, Jon
Birkhead, Tim
author_facet Bennison, Clair
Hemmings, Nicola
Slate, Jon
Birkhead, Tim
author_sort Bennison, Clair
collection PubMed
description Sperm competition, in which the ejaculates of multiple males compete to fertilize a female's ova, results in strong selection on sperm traits. Although sperm size and swimming velocity are known to independently affect fertilization success in certain species, exploring the relationship between sperm length, swimming velocity and fertilization success still remains a challenge. Here, we use the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), where sperm size influences sperm swimming velocity, to determine the effect of sperm total length on fertilization success. Sperm competition experiments, in which pairs of males whose sperm differed only in length and swimming speed, revealed that males producing long sperm were more successful in terms of (i) the number of sperm reaching the ova and (ii) fertilizing those ova. Our results reveal that although sperm length is the main factor determining the outcome of sperm competition, complex interactions between male and female reproductive traits may also be important. The mechanisms underlying these interactions are poorly understood, but we suggest that differences in sperm storage and utilization by females may contribute to the outcome of sperm competition.
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spelling pubmed-42860412015-01-22 Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird Bennison, Clair Hemmings, Nicola Slate, Jon Birkhead, Tim Proc Biol Sci Research Articles Sperm competition, in which the ejaculates of multiple males compete to fertilize a female's ova, results in strong selection on sperm traits. Although sperm size and swimming velocity are known to independently affect fertilization success in certain species, exploring the relationship between sperm length, swimming velocity and fertilization success still remains a challenge. Here, we use the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), where sperm size influences sperm swimming velocity, to determine the effect of sperm total length on fertilization success. Sperm competition experiments, in which pairs of males whose sperm differed only in length and swimming speed, revealed that males producing long sperm were more successful in terms of (i) the number of sperm reaching the ova and (ii) fertilizing those ova. Our results reveal that although sperm length is the main factor determining the outcome of sperm competition, complex interactions between male and female reproductive traits may also be important. The mechanisms underlying these interactions are poorly understood, but we suggest that differences in sperm storage and utilization by females may contribute to the outcome of sperm competition. The Royal Society 2015-01-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4286041/ /pubmed/25621327 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1897 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2014 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Bennison, Clair
Hemmings, Nicola
Slate, Jon
Birkhead, Tim
Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title_full Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title_fullStr Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title_full_unstemmed Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title_short Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
title_sort long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286041/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25621327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1897
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