By Hook or by Crook? Morphometry, Competition and Cooperation in Rodent Sperm
By Hook or by Crook? Morphometry, Competition and Cooperation in Rodent Sperm
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0000170
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发表时间：
2007-01-24
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Birkhead, Tim R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Immler, Simone;Moore, Harry D. M.;Birkhead, Tim R.
背景精子设计在不同物种之间差异很大，精子竞争被认为是影响这种差异的主要因素。然而，许多精子性状的功能意义仍然知之甚少。大多数鼠类啮齿动物的精子的特征是精子头部的顶端钩，其程度在物种间有显著差异。在欧洲森林鼠Apodemus sylvaticus（鼠科）中，精子的高度反射的顶端钩被用来形成精子群，或“火车”，与单个精子相比，它们表现出更高的游泳速度和推力。方法/主要调查结果。在这里，我们使用的啮齿类小鼠精子的比较研究，并表明，顶端钩和精子合作可能是一般的适应啮齿类动物精子竞争。我们发现，具有相对较大睾丸的物种，因此精子竞争更激烈，具有更长，更能反映顶端精子钩。此外，我们表明，精子组也发生在啮齿动物以外的欧洲木鼠。结论.我们的研究结果表明，在啮齿类动物精子合作是更广泛的比假设到目前为止，并强调在精子设计和功能的进化二倍体与单倍体选择的重要性。
Background. Sperm design varies enormously across species and sperm competition is thought to be a major factor influencing this variation. However, the functional significance of many sperm traits is still poorly understood. The sperm of most murid rodents are characterised by an apical hook of the sperm head that varies markedly in extent across species. In the European woodmouse Apodemus sylvaticus(Muridae), the highly reflected apical hook of sperm is used to form sperm groups, or "trains,'' which exhibited increased swimming velocity and thrusting force compared to individual sperm. Methodology/Principal Findings. Here we use a comparative study of murine rodent sperm and demonstrate that the apical hook and sperm cooperation are likely to be general adaptations to sperm competition in rodents. We found that species with relatively larger testes, and therefore more intense sperm competition, have a longer, more reflected apical sperm hook. In addition, we show that sperm groups also occur in rodents other than the European woodmouse. Conclusions. Our results suggest that in rodents sperm cooperation is more widespread than assumed so far and highlight the importance of diploid versus haploid selection in the evolution of sperm design and function.