Not just a chastity belt: the functional significance of mating plugs in garter snakes, revisited
Not just a chastity belt: the functional significance of mating plugs in garter snakes, revisited
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DOI：
10.1111/bij.12089
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发表时间：
2013-08-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Mason, Robert T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Friesen, Christopher R.;Shine, Richard;Mason, Robert T.
在加拿大马尼托巴省，春天红边吊带蛇（Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis）出现的时候，雄性的有效性别比例明显偏向雄性，雄性会争相寻找和求爱新出现的雌性。高频率的多胎父系后代表明雌性是滥交的；雄性沉积的胶状交配塞（CPs）可以通过被动的配偶保护来获得健康益处。由于雌性在交配前的选择在大型交配群体中是有限的，性冲突可能会优先考虑阻止雌性排出雄性精子。在蛇中，精子在睾丸中产生并通过输精管输送，而CP被认为是由肾性段产生并通过输尿管输送。我们通过手术结扎导管分别控制两种液体的输送。输尿管结扎的雄蜘蛛不会产生CP，导致它们的精子在交配后立即从雌蜘蛛的泄殖腔中泄漏出来。与先前的观点相反，组织学显示精子分布在整个CP中。因此，CP可能具有精子包囊的功能：蛋白质基质中含有精子，随着塞的溶解，精子逐渐被释放出来。雄性在第二次交配后产下CP的可能性显著下降，这可能限制了它的繁殖成功。这些结果挑战了被动保护配偶是顶叶田鼠CP主要功能的假设。(c) 2013 .中国生物医学工程学报，中国生物医学工程学报，2013,29(3):893-907。
During the spring emergence of red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) in Manitoba, Canada, the operational sex ratio is strongly skewed towards males, who scramble to locate and court newly emerged females. A high frequency of multiple paternity litters suggests that the females are promiscuous; the gelatinous copulatory plugs (CPs) deposited by males may confer fitness benefits via passive mate guarding. Because precopulatory female choice is limited in large mating aggregations, sexual conflict may place a premium on preventing females from ejecting male sperm. In snakes, sperm are produced in the testes and delivered through the ductus deferens, and the CP is thought to be produced by the renal sexual segment and conveyed through the ureter. We manipulated the delivery of the two fluids separately by surgically ligating the ducts. Ureter-ligated males did not produce a CP, causing their sperm to leak out of the female's cloaca immediately after copulation. Contrary to previous suggestions, histology revealed sperm distributed throughout the CP. Thus, the CP may function as a spermatophore: the protein matrix contains the sperm, which are liberated gradually as the plug dissolves. The likelihood of a male depositing a CP fell significantly after his second mating, perhaps limiting his reproductive success. These results challenge the hypothesis that passive mate guarding is the primary function of the CP in T.sirtalis parietalis.(c) 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109, 893-907.