Near-anoxia induces immobilisation and sustains viability of sperm in ant queens: Novel insights into mechanisms of prolonged sperm storage
Near-anoxia induces immobilisation and sustains viability of sperm in ant queens: Novel insights into mechanisms of prolonged sperm storage
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近缺氧导致蚁后精子固定并维持活力：对延长精子储存机制的新见解
DOI：
10.1101/2022.09.08.507031
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Ken
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Gotoh;Mika Takeshima;Ken
雌性昆虫在交配后将精子储存在受精囊中一段时间，以便以后用于受精。在成年之初，蚁后可以在十多年的交配过程中保留大量有活力的精子细胞。然而，影响精子长期储存的关键因素尚未确定。在这里，我们表明，受精囊环境是接近缺氧，这会导致精子固定。此外，线粒体呼吸抑制剂抑制精子活力，这表明精子固定可能是由于在接近缺氧条件下仅由糖酵解产生的ATP不足引起的。由于受精囊液不是酸性的，因此精子的固定不是由糖酵解代谢引起的酸化引起的。最后，我们表明，人工缺氧条件下，而不是有氧条件下维持可行的精子细胞。因此，近缺氧是影响蚁后精子长期保存的关键因素。然而，人工缺氧条件下的精子细胞的活力低于立即从蜂王身上解剖的精子细胞。此外，与缺氧条件下少于2小时的精子不同，缺氧超过4小时的不动精子细胞在有氧暴露后不会开始游泳。这表明，缺氧以外的因素也是长期保存精子所必需的。
Insect females store sperm in a spermatheca after copulation for some duration to use it later for fertilisation. At the beginning of their adult lives, ant queens can preserve numerous viable sperm cells from copulation for over ten years. However, the key factors influencing long-term sperm storage have not been identified. Here we show that the spermathecal environment is near anoxic, which induces sperm immobilisation. Furthermore, mitochondrial respiratory inhibitors suppress sperm motility, suggesting that sperm immobilisation may be caused by a shortage of ATP generated from only glycolysis under near anoxic condition. Sperm immobilisation is not induced by acidification via glycolytic metabolism because the spermathecal fluid is not acidic. Finally, we show that artificial anoxic conditions rather than aerobic conditions sustain viable sperm cells. Therefore, near-anoxia is a key factor influencing long-term sperm storage in ant queens. The viability of sperm cells under artificial anoxia, however, is lower than of those dissected immediately from queens. Moreover, the immotile sperm cells under more than 4 h of anoxia do not begin swimming after aerobic exposure, unlike those that were in anoxic conditions for less than 2 h. This indicates that factors other than anoxia are also necessary for long-term sperm preservation.