2018
DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00029
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Evidence That the Microbiota Counteracts Male Outbreeding Strategy by Inhibiting Sexual Signaling in Females

Abstract: The microbiota is increasingly being recognized as having important impacts on many host biological processes. However, evidence of its effects on animal communication and breeding strategy is lacking. In this three-factorial study, we show that females were more willing to mate with related males, with relatedness likely being assessed through the microbiota. By contrast, male mating investment is concurrently determined by both the relatedness and microbiota status of the female. When the microbiota in femal… Show more

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Cited by 18 publications
(24 citation statements)
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“…However, if the microbiota is impaired, CHC profiles are likely to be altered, and may no longer be used/detected as an honest signal. This idea is consistent with a previous study that found kin recognition is influenced by the gut microbiota, through the disruption of olfactory sexual signalling, or CHC profile, in D. melanogaster [67]. Here, males displayed greater mating investment with an unrelated female when the gut microbiota was impaired, suggesting that the gut microbiota underlies CHC composition in D. melanogaster.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 92%
“…However, if the microbiota is impaired, CHC profiles are likely to be altered, and may no longer be used/detected as an honest signal. This idea is consistent with a previous study that found kin recognition is influenced by the gut microbiota, through the disruption of olfactory sexual signalling, or CHC profile, in D. melanogaster [67]. Here, males displayed greater mating investment with an unrelated female when the gut microbiota was impaired, suggesting that the gut microbiota underlies CHC composition in D. melanogaster.…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 92%
“…STIs are often characterised by distinctive symptoms, such as genital warts or discharges, and genital inspection behaviours associated with precopulatory courtship may function to discriminate against infected partners [45]. Olfactory cues can also be shaped by host-associated microbiomes (e.g., scent gland secretions in hyenas [46] or underarm odour in humans [47]), and recent studies suggest that olfactory cues associated with mate choice are produced by the resident microbiome [48,49]. Thus, odours mediated by the reproductive microbiome might also influence mate choice decisions.…”
Section: Precopulatory Sexual Selection: Female Mate Choice and Male-mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In mice, the gut microbiome is integral to the sexual dimorphism in the regulation of hormones for growth and sexual maturity, as well as improving disease resistance [46,47]. Female Drosophila melanogaster mating patterns are correlated with male microbiota so that females mate preferentially with males with intact microbiota [48]. In the moth, Spodoptera littoralis, adult female microbiomes contain a higher number of genes for energy metabolism than male microbiomes [5].…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%