By mating males of each fluorescent color to a single female, the researchers could visualize how sperm behaved and were displaced inside the female
sperm storage organs during sequential copulations.1
In fruit flies, long female
sperm storage organs give a boost to males producing longer sperm.
Crickets have one of the better - studied mechanisms of storage: A biomechanical trick in the female cricket's
sperm storage organ somehow slows down sperm metabolism, extending their viability to several weeks.
The team found a genetic relationship between the length of a female's
sperm storage organ and male's sperm length, meaning when one trait evolves to be longer, the other follows in kind.
These diminutive Romeos place packages of sperm on the outside of the female's body, close to
her sperm storage organ, just below her mouth.
Not exact matches
Female sharks do have an
organ that allows them to store
sperm, but a three - year
storage would have been unprecedented.
«The longer a female waited to eject the
sperm, the more time it had to enter her
storage organs and displace the
sperm from her previous mate,» says Pitnick.
«This is indicated by various means, including the re-mating interval; progeny production rate;
sperm -
storage organ morphology; and the way females store and use
sperm.»
When ant queens mate with multiple males their
sperm have a single time - window to compete with rival ejaculates for
storage in the reproductive
organs of the queens.
In Atta leafcutter ants, the negative effect of the seminal fluid of other males was negated by secretion from the queen
sperm -
storage organ, suggesting that queens may control ejaculate competition after
sperm storage.
In these
organs,
sperm can remain viable for weeks or months, or can be displaced by the sperm of a new suitor as the female remates.JOHN BELOTE, MOLLIE MANIER, AND SCOTT PITNICKVISUALIZING SPERM WARS Though it is difficult to see what goes on inside a female fruit fly after copulation, recent genetic advances have allowed scientists to image sperm competition inside storage organs — the seminal receptacle and spermathecae — of female Drosophila melanoga
sperm can remain viable for weeks or months, or can be displaced by the
sperm of a new suitor as the female remates.JOHN BELOTE, MOLLIE MANIER, AND SCOTT PITNICKVISUALIZING SPERM WARS Though it is difficult to see what goes on inside a female fruit fly after copulation, recent genetic advances have allowed scientists to image sperm competition inside storage organs — the seminal receptacle and spermathecae — of female Drosophila melanoga
sperm of a new suitor as the female remates.JOHN BELOTE, MOLLIE MANIER, AND SCOTT PITNICKVISUALIZING
SPERM WARS Though it is difficult to see what goes on inside a female fruit fly after copulation, recent genetic advances have allowed scientists to image sperm competition inside storage organs — the seminal receptacle and spermathecae — of female Drosophila melanoga
SPERM WARS Though it is difficult to see what goes on inside a female fruit fly after copulation, recent genetic advances have allowed scientists to image
sperm competition inside storage organs — the seminal receptacle and spermathecae — of female Drosophila melanoga
sperm competition inside
storage organs — the seminal receptacle and spermathecae — of female Drosophila melanogaster.