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Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition
BACKGROUND: Ejaculates contain a diverse mixture of sperm and seminal fluid proteins, the combination of which is crucial to male reproductive success under competitive conditions. Males should therefore tailor the production of different ejaculate components according to their social environment, w...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624372/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26507392 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-015-0197-2 |
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author | Ramm, Steven A. Edward, Dominic A. Claydon, Amy J. Hammond, Dean E. Brownridge, Philip Hurst, Jane L. Beynon, Robert J. Stockley, Paula |
author_facet | Ramm, Steven A. Edward, Dominic A. Claydon, Amy J. Hammond, Dean E. Brownridge, Philip Hurst, Jane L. Beynon, Robert J. Stockley, Paula |
author_sort | Ramm, Steven A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Ejaculates contain a diverse mixture of sperm and seminal fluid proteins, the combination of which is crucial to male reproductive success under competitive conditions. Males should therefore tailor the production of different ejaculate components according to their social environment, with particular sensitivity to cues of sperm competition risk (i.e. how likely it is that females will mate promiscuously). Here we test this hypothesis using an established vertebrate model system, the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus), combining experimental data with a quantitative proteomics analysis of seminal fluid composition. Our study tests for the first time how both sperm and seminal fluid components of the ejaculate are tailored to the social environment. RESULTS: Our quantitative proteomics analysis reveals that the relative production of different proteins found in seminal fluid – i.e. seminal fluid proteome composition – differs significantly according to cues of sperm competition risk. Using a conservative analytical approach to identify differential expression of individual seminal fluid components, at least seven of 31 secreted seminal fluid proteins examined showed consistent differences in relative abundance under high versus low sperm competition conditions. Notably three important proteins with potential roles in sperm competition – SVS 6, SVS 5 and CEACAM 10 – were more abundant in the high competition treatment groups. Total investment in both sperm and seminal fluid production also increased with cues of heightened sperm competition risk in the social environment. By contrast, relative investment in different ejaculate components was unaffected by cues of mating opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals significant plasticity in different ejaculate components, with the production of both sperm and non-sperm fractions of the ejaculate strongly influenced by the social environment. Sperm competition risk is thus shown to be a key factor in male ejaculate production decisions, including driving plasticity in seminal fluid composition. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-015-0197-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4624372 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-46243722015-10-29 Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition Ramm, Steven A. Edward, Dominic A. Claydon, Amy J. Hammond, Dean E. Brownridge, Philip Hurst, Jane L. Beynon, Robert J. Stockley, Paula BMC Biol Research Article BACKGROUND: Ejaculates contain a diverse mixture of sperm and seminal fluid proteins, the combination of which is crucial to male reproductive success under competitive conditions. Males should therefore tailor the production of different ejaculate components according to their social environment, with particular sensitivity to cues of sperm competition risk (i.e. how likely it is that females will mate promiscuously). Here we test this hypothesis using an established vertebrate model system, the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus), combining experimental data with a quantitative proteomics analysis of seminal fluid composition. Our study tests for the first time how both sperm and seminal fluid components of the ejaculate are tailored to the social environment. RESULTS: Our quantitative proteomics analysis reveals that the relative production of different proteins found in seminal fluid – i.e. seminal fluid proteome composition – differs significantly according to cues of sperm competition risk. Using a conservative analytical approach to identify differential expression of individual seminal fluid components, at least seven of 31 secreted seminal fluid proteins examined showed consistent differences in relative abundance under high versus low sperm competition conditions. Notably three important proteins with potential roles in sperm competition – SVS 6, SVS 5 and CEACAM 10 – were more abundant in the high competition treatment groups. Total investment in both sperm and seminal fluid production also increased with cues of heightened sperm competition risk in the social environment. By contrast, relative investment in different ejaculate components was unaffected by cues of mating opportunities. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals significant plasticity in different ejaculate components, with the production of both sperm and non-sperm fractions of the ejaculate strongly influenced by the social environment. Sperm competition risk is thus shown to be a key factor in male ejaculate production decisions, including driving plasticity in seminal fluid composition. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-015-0197-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2015-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC4624372/ /pubmed/26507392 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-015-0197-2 Text en © Ramm et al. 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Ramm, Steven A. Edward, Dominic A. Claydon, Amy J. Hammond, Dean E. Brownridge, Philip Hurst, Jane L. Beynon, Robert J. Stockley, Paula Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title | Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title_full | Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title_fullStr | Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title_full_unstemmed | Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title_short | Sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
title_sort | sperm competition risk drives plasticity in seminal fluid composition |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624372/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26507392 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-015-0197-2 |
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