Within-ejaculate sperm competition

Sutter, Andreas; Immler, Simone

doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0066

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The impact of SGE-fuelled genomic conflict could therefore contribute new testes-specific genes and promote diversification of gene families associated with generally suppressing a variety of SGEs during spermatogenesis [72,73]. Haploid silencing of many genes during spermatogenesis has been implicated as management by the diploid genome to avoid such intra-genomic conflict, (see Sutter & Immler 2020 in this issue [74]). As our understanding of spermatogenesis deepens, some of its intricacies may turn out to be the result of SGE-fuelled intra-genomic conflict.…”

Section: (B) Selfish Genetic Elements and Spermatogenesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Selfish genetic elements and male fertility

Verspoor

Price

Wedell

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) are diverse and near ubiquitous in Eukaryotes and can be potent drivers of evolution. Here, we discuss SGEs that specifically act on sperm to gain a transmission advantage to the next generation. The diverse SGEs that affect sperm often impose costs on carrier males, including damaging ejaculates, skewing offspring sex ratios and in particular reducing sperm-competitive success of SGE-carrying males. How males and females tolerate and mitigate against these costs is a dynamic and expanding area of research. The intense intra-genomic conflict that these selfish elements generate could also have implications for male fertility and spermatogenesis more widely. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.

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Section: (B) Selfish Genetic Elements and Spermatogenesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Selfish genetic elements and male fertility

Verspoor

Price

Wedell

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…However, our breeding design is different from the full-factorial breeding that was used in previous experiments on salmonid fish, because the families resulted from sperm competition experiments. Sperm competitiveness can vary within the milt of a male (Sutter and Immler, 2020) and has been shown to affect offspring traits (Immler et al, 2014). We can therefore not exclude that sperm competitiveness is linked to genetic quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Sex-Specific Stress Tolerance in Embryos of Lake Char (Salvelinus umbla)

et al. 2021

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Salmonid fish have become important models in evolution and ecology, but possible effects of embryo or larval sex are mostly ignored, probably because morphological gonad formation starts only months after hatching and sexual maturation years later. However, recent gene expression studies and first observations in domestic strains suggest that sex-specific life histories could already start at an embryonic stage. Here we test this hypothesis in embryos and larvae of lake char (Salvelinus umbla). We sampled wild char and used their gametes to produce embryos of 40 different families. Embryos were raised singly in a stress or a non-stress environment until a late larval stage (stress was induced by allowing remainders of ovarian fluids to support microbial growth). Genetic markers were then used to sex the fish and reconstruct paternity (N = 1,463, including dead embryos). Primary sex ratio did not differ among families and was about 1:1. Female embryos hatched on average later and showed lower stress tolerance than male embryos. There were significant parental effects on offspring growth and mortality, but the sex differences in embryo performance were not family specific. We conclude that the sexes differ in their life history and susceptibilities to environmental stress already at embryonic stages. Environmental stress during incubation can therefore affect population sex ratio and hence population growth and genetics.

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“…This remains a poorly studied area, in part owing to the difficulties in examining within-ejaculate competition, and in part owing to the dogma that DNA within sperm is supposed to be transcriptionally silent. But as Sutter & Immler [85] highlight in their contribution to this issue, there is increasing evidence of gene expression within sperm and new technologies for studying within-ejaculate sperm competition are opening up exciting new avenues for research.…”

Section: Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%