Sperm design and sperm function
Sperm design and sperm function
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DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2006.0449
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发表时间：
2006-06-22
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Roldan, Eduardo R. S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Malo, Aurelio F.;Gomendio, Montserrat;Roldan, Eduardo R. S.
精子的形状和大小在物种之间和物种内都有巨大的差异，但这种差异如何转化为受精效率尚不清楚。精子的游动速度是男性受精成功的关键决定因素，但之前关于哪些精子表型特征与游动速度相关的研究并不成功。在这里，我们研究了马鹿(Cervus Elaffus Hispanicus)自然种群中几种精子成分的大小与精子游动速度之间的关系，在这些种群中，提高雄性繁殖成功率的选择压力预计很大。我们的结果表明，精子尺寸在雄性内部几乎没有变化，而在雄性之间存在相当大的差异。中段较长的精子游得更慢，这一发现不支持中段的大小决定转化为游泳速度的能量的假设。相比之下，头部细长的精子，以及鞭毛其余部分的相对长度较长的精子，游得更快。因此，头部的流体动力学形状和鞭毛其余部分的相对大小所产生的力似乎是决定精子游泳速度的关键因素。
Spermatozoa vary enormously in their form and dimensions, both between and within species, yet how this variation translates into fertilizing efficiency is not known. Sperm swimming velocity is a key determinant of male fertilization success, but previous efforts to identity which sperm phenotypic traits are associated with swimming velocity have been unsuccessful. Here, we examine the relationship between the size of several sperm components and sperm swimming velocity in natural populations of red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) where selective pressures to enhance male reproductive success are expected to be strong. Our results show that there is little within-male and considerable between-male variation in sperm dimensions. Spermatozoa with longer midpieces swim more slowly, a finding which does not support the hypothesis that the size of the midpiece determines the amount of energy which is translated into swimming speed. In contrast, spermatozoa with elongated heads, and those in which the relative length of the rest of the flagellum is longer, swim faster. Thus, the hydrodynamic shape of the head and the forces generated by the relative size of the rest of the flagellum seem to be the key determinants of sperm swimming velocity.