DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Hermaphroditic Strategies in the Opisthobranch Gastropod, Aplysia Californica

论文研究：后鳃类腹足动物加州海兔的雌雄同体策略

• 批准号: 9902307
• 负责人: Jack Bradbury
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-07-01 至 2001-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9902307&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Hermaphroditic; Strategies; Opisthobranch

Hermaphroditism is widespread in invertebrates, such as freshwater snails, flatworms, and barnacles. Surprisingly little is known about hermaphroditic reproductive strategies. Hermaphroditic species are those in which individuals have both male and female reproductive systems and can mate in either role. The PIs do not understand the strategic tradeoff between investing energy in male versus female roles that allows an individual to reproduce optimally, i.e. produce the most possible offspring over its lifetime. Preliminary studies on sea slugs indicate that body size is an important determinant of mating strategies: large animals tend to function as females more than small animals. This study will develop a mathematical model to predict the best reproductive strategy for sperm-storing hermaphrodites of varying body sizes. Predictions of the model will be tested using a common sea slug, the California Sea Hare (an opisthobranch Gastropod), by observing matings in the field and conducting lab experiments. In addition, DNA based paternity analysis will quantify how many offspring can be sired by mating in the male role given that individuals can mate several times and store the sperm received from several mates before egg-laying.The findings of this project will provide new insights into the understanding of reproductive behavior and physiology, along with shedding light on why hermaphroditism is widespread in invertebrates, and also why nearly all opisthobranch Gastropods, like the California Sea hare, are hermaphrodites.

两性畸形广泛存在于无脊椎动物中，如淡水蜗牛、扁形虫和藤壶。 令人惊讶的是，人们对两性生殖策略知之甚少。 雌雄同体物种是指个体同时具有雄性和雌性生殖系统，并且可以以任何一种角色交配的物种。 PI不理解在男性角色和女性角色之间投资能量的战略权衡，这使得个体能够最佳地繁殖，即在其一生中产生最可能的后代。 对海蛞蝓的初步研究表明，身体大小是交配策略的一个重要决定因素：大型动物比小型动物更倾向于充当雌性。 本研究将建立一个数学模型来预测不同体型的储存精子的雌雄同体的最佳繁殖策略。该模型的预测将使用一种常见的海蛞蝓，加州海兔（一种后鳃腹足动物），通过观察交配在现场和进行实验室实验进行测试。 此外，基于DNA的亲子鉴定分析将量化有多少后代可以通过交配在男性的角色，考虑到个人可以交配多次，并储存精子从几个配偶产卵前收到。该项目的发现将提供新的见解，了解生殖行为和生理学，沿着阐明为什么两性畸形是普遍存在于无脊椎动物，这也是为什么几乎所有的后鳃腹足类动物，比如加州海兔，都是雌雄同体的原因。