| 1. |
- Alavioon, Ghazal, et al.
(författare)
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Haploid selection within a single ejaculate increases offspring fitness
- 2017
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; :30, s. 8053-8058
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An inescapable consequence of sex in eukaryotes is the evolution of a biphasic life cycle with alternating diploid and haploid phases. The occurrence of selection during the haploid phase can have far-reaching consequences for fundamental evolutionary processes including the rate of adaptation, the extent of inbreeding depression, and the load of deleterious mutations, as well as for applied research into fertilization technology. Although haploid selection is well established in plants, current dogma assumes that in animals, intact fertile sperm within a single ejaculate are equivalent at siring viable offspring. Using the zebrafish Danio rerio, we show that selection on phenotypic variation among intact fertile sperm within an ejaculate affects offspring fitness. Longer-lived sperm sired embryos with increased survival and a reduced number of apoptotic cells, and adult male offspring exhibited higher fitness. The effect on embryo viability was carried over into the second generation without further selection and was equally strong in both sexes. Sperm pools selected by motile phenotypes differed genetically at numerous sites throughout the genome. Our findings clearly link within-ejaculate variation in sperm phenotype to offspring fitness and sperm genotype in a vertebrate and have major implications for adaptive evolution.
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| 2. |
- Arnqvist, Göran, Professor, 1961-, et al.
(författare)
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Direct and indirect effects of male genital elaboration in female seed beetles
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - London : Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 288:1954
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Our understanding of coevolution between male genitalia and female traits remains incomplete. This is perhaps especially true for genital traits that cause internal injuries in females, such as the spiny genitalia of seed beetles where males with relatively long spines enjoy a high relative fertilization success. We report on a new set of experiments, based on extant selection lines, aimed at assessing the effects of long male spines on females in Callosobruchus maculatus . We first draw on an earlier study using microscale laser surgery, and demonstrate that genital spines have a direct negative (sexually antagonistic) effect on female fecundity. We then ask whether artificial selection for long versus short spines resulted in direct or indirect effects on female lifetime offspring production. Reference females mating with males from long-spine lines had higher offspring production, presumably due to an elevated allocation in males to those ejaculate components that are beneficial to females. Remarkably, selection for long male genital spines also resulted in an evolutionary increase in female offspring production as a correlated response. Our findings thus suggest that female traits that affect their response to male spines are both under direct selection to minimize harm but are also under indirect selection (a good genes effect), consistent with the evolution of mating and fertilization biases being affected by several simultaneous processes.
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| 3. |
- Arnqvist, Göran, et al.
(författare)
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Genome size correlates with reproductive fitness in seed beetles
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 282:1815
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ultimate cause of genome size (GS) evolution in eukaryotes remains a major and unresolved puzzle in evolutionary biology. Large-scale comparative studies have failed to find consistent correlations between GS and organismal properties, resulting in the 'C-value paradox'. Current hypotheses for the evolution of GS are based either on the balance between mutational events and drift or on natural selection acting upon standing genetic variation in GS. It is, however, currently very difficult to evaluate the role of selection because within-species studies that relate variation in life-history traits to variation in GS are very rare. Here, we report phylogenetic comparative analyses of GS evolution in seed beetles at two distinct taxonomic scales, which combines replicated estimation of GS with experimental assays of life-history traits and reproductive fitness. GS showed rapid and bidirectional evolution across species, but did not show correlated evolution with any of several indices of the relative importance of genetic drift. Within a single species, GS varied by 4-5% across populations and showed positive correlated evolution with independent estimates of male and female reproductive fitness. Collectively, the phylogenetic pattern of GS diversification across and within species in conjunction with the pattern of correlated evolution between GS and fitness provide novel support for the tenet that natural selection plays a key role in shaping GS evolution.
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| 4. |
- Hermans Née Hotzy, Cosima
(författare)
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Selection in sperm and its consequences : Exploring haploid selection, ageing and epigenetic effects in sperm
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sexually reproducing eukaryotes are typically going through a biphasic life cycle with a diploid and a haploid phase. Unlike in plants where selection on haploid pollen genotypes is well established, the possibility of selection occurring in animal sperm is currently not known. One of the main reasons for this lack of knowledge is the general assumption that due to the shortness and the apparent absence of gene expression in haploid sperm, selection during that phase is unlikely to occur. The aim of this thesis was to fill this gap and address some of the main fundamental questions. I investigated the interaction between sperm phenotype and offspring phenotype with a focus on the trans-generational effects of (i) selection on the haploid sperm genotype, (ii) sperm ageing and (iii) sperm-mediated epigenetic effects. For one, we performed several experimental studies to investigate how selection on the sperm phenotype affects offspring performance in two externally fertilizing fishes, Atlantic salmon and zebrafish. We found that in Atlantic salmon, sperm of intermediate post-activation longevity sire offspring that hatch earlier. In zebrafish, longer living sperm sire more viable offspring with a higher fitness than their short-lived sibling sperm. We explored the mechanisms of these trans-generational effects and found that neither intrinsic post-ejaculation sperm ageing (Atlantic salmon and zebrafish) nor pre-ejaculation sperm ageing (zebrafish) affect offspring performance. However, we identified genetic differences between sperm pools that were obtained by selecting different phenotypes within ejaculates of zebrafish males. These results suggest a genetic basis for intra-ejaculate sperm phenotype variation and show that there is potential for haploid selection in sperm. In a separate experiment, we explored the role of sexual selection in shaping sperm-mediated epigenetic effects, and found that short-time changes in male-male competition affect offspring hatching time and survival. In conclusion, this thesis provides evidence that sperm phenotype affects offspring phenotype, and that sperm phenotype is affected by both epigenetic changes influenced by the male environment and differences in the haploid genome of sperm.
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| 5. |
- Hotzy, Cosima, et al.
(författare)
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Evolutionary history of sexual selection affects microRNA profiles in Drosophila sperm
- 2022
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0014-3820 .- 1558-5646. ; 76:2, s. 310-319
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The presence of small RNAs in sperm is a relatively recent discovery and little is currently known about their importance and functions. Environmental changes including social conditions and dietary manipulations are known to affect the composition and expression of some small RNAs in sperm and may elicit a physiological stress response resulting in an associated change in gamete miRNA profiles. Here, we tested how microRNA profiles in sperm are affected by variation in both sexual selection and dietary regimes in Drosophila melanogaster selection lines. The selection lines were exposed to standard versus low yeast diet treatments and three different population sex ratios (male-biased, female-biased, or equal sex) in a full-factorial design. After 38 generations of selection, all males were maintained on their selected diet and in a common garden male-only environment prior to sperm sampling. We performed transcriptome analyses on miRNAs in purified sperm samples. We found 11 differentially expressed miRNAs with the majority showing differences between male- and female-biased lines. Dietary treatment only had a significant effect on miRNA expression levels in interaction with sex ratio. Our findings suggest that long-term adaptation may affect miRNA profiles in sperm and that these may show varied interactions with short-term environmental changes.
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| 6. |
- Hotzy, Cosima, et al.
(författare)
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Intrinsic post‐ejaculation sperm ageing does not affect offspring fitness in Atlantic salmon
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. - 1010-061X .- 1420-9101. ; 33:5, s. 576-583
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Post-meiotic sperm ageing, both before ejaculation and after ejaculation, has been shown to negatively affect offspring fitness by lowering the rate of embryonic development, reducing embryonic viability and decreasing offspring condition. These negative effects are thought to be caused by intrinsic factors such as oxidative stress and ATP depletion or extrinsic factors such as temperature and osmosis. Effects of post-ejaculation sperm ageing on offspring fitness have so far almost exclusively been tested in internal fertilizers. Here, we tested whether intrinsic post-ejaculation sperm ageing affects offspring performance in an external fertilizer, the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. We performed in vitro fertilizations with a split-clutch design where sperm were subjected to four post-ejaculation ageing treatments. We varied the duration between sperm activation and fertilization while minimizing extrinsic stress factors and tested how this affected offspring fitness. We found no evidence for an effect of our treatments on embryo survival, hatching time, larval standard length, early larval survival or larval growth rate, indicating that intrinsic post-ejaculation sperm ageing may not occur in Atlantic salmon. One reason may be the short life span of salmon sperm after ejaculation. Whether our findings are true in other external fertilizers with extended sperm activity remains to be tested.
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| 7. |
- Hotzy, Cosima, et al.
(författare)
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Phenotypic Engineering Unveils the Function of Genital Morphology
- 2012
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 22:23, s. 2258-2261
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The rapidly evolving and often extraordinarily complex appearance of male genital morphology of internally fertilizing animals has been recognized for centuries [1]. Postcopulatory sexual selection is regarded as the likely evolutionary engine of this diversity [2], but direct support for this hypothesis is limited. We used two complementary approaches, evolution through artificial selection and microscale laser surgery, to experimentally manipulate genital morphology in an insect model system. We then assessed the competitive fertilization success of these phenotypically manipulated males and studied the fate of their ejaculate in females using high-resolution radioisotopic labeling of ejaculates. Males with longer genital spines were more successful in gaining fertilizations, providing experimental evidence that male genital morphology influences success in postcopulatory reproductive competition. Furthermore, a larger proportion of the ejaculate moved from the reproductive tract into the female body following mating with males with longer spines, suggesting that genital spines increase the rate at which seminal fluid passes into the female hemolymph. Our results show that genital morphology affects male competitive fertilization success and imply that sexual selection on genital morphology may be mediated in part through seminal fluid [3].
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| 8. |
- Hotzy, Cosima, et al.
(författare)
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Sperm Competition Favors Harmful Males in Seed Beetles
- 2009
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 19:5, s. 404-407
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the most enigmatic observations in evolutionary biology is the evolution of morphological or physiological traits in one sex that physically injure members of the other sex [1-3]. Such traits occur in a wide range of taxa [3] and range from toxic ejaculate substances [4-6] to genital or external spines that wound females during copulation [7-11]. Current hypotheses for the adaptive evolution of such injurious traits rest entirely on the assumption that they are beneficial to their bearer by aiding in reproductive competition [1, 3]. Here, we assess this key assumption in seed beetles where genital spines in males physically injure females. We demonstrate that male spine length is positively correlated with harm to females during mating but also that males with longer spines are more successful in sperm competition. This is the first complete support for the proposal that sexual selection by sperm competition can favor morphological traits in males that inflict injury upon females. However, our results suggest that harm to females is a pleiotropic by-product, such that genital spines in males elevate success in sperm competition by means other than by causing harm.
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| 9. |
- Immler, Simone, et al.
(författare)
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Sperm variation within a single ejaculate affects offspring development in Atlantic salmon
- 2014
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Ingår i: Biology Letters. - : The Royal Society. - 1744-9561 .- 1744-957X. ; 10:2, s. 20131040-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is generally believed that variation in sperm phenotype within a single ejaculate has no consequences for offspring performance, because sperm phenotypes are thought not to reflect sperm genotypes. We show that variation in individual sperm function within an ejaculate affects the performance of the resulting offspring in the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. We experimentally manipulated the time between sperm activation and fertilization in order to select for sperm cohorts differing in longevity within single ejaculates of wild caught male salmon. We found that within-ejaculate variation in sperm longevity significantly affected offspring development and hence time until hatching. Whether these effects have a genetic or epigenetic basis needs to be further evaluated. However, our results provide experimental evidence for transgenerational effects of individual sperm function.
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| 10. |
- Liljestrand Rönn, Johanna L., et al.
(författare)
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Do longer genital spines in male seed beetles function as better anchors during mating?
- 2012
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Ingår i: Animal Behaviour. - : Elsevier BV. - 0003-3472 .- 1095-8282. ; 83:1, s. 75-79
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a wide variety of taxa, males are equipped with harmful structures on their genitalia such as hooks, barbs or spines. The proximate function of these structures and the evolutionary forces behind their evolution have been discussed and investigated during the last few decades. One model system in which these structures have attracted particular attention is the Callosobruchus seed beetle group. The main suggestion for the occurrence of genital spines in this group of species has been that their primary function is to act as an anchor during mating, to aid the male in staying attached to the female. This would prevent females terminating copulation prematurely, or would hinder take-overs by rival males. We used five populations of Callosobruchus seed beetles, with differing lengths of the male genital spines, to test whether longer spines provide males with an enhanced attachment during mating. This was tested both with and without male competition in the form of rival males present or not during focal copulations. We found that males from populations with longer spines did not stay in copula for longer than males from populations with shorter spines. In addition, females mating with males with longer genital spines suffered a fitness cost in terms of lower lifetime offspring production. In conclusion, we did not find any support for the hypothesis that the primary function of genital spines in seed beetles is to serve as an anchor.
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