Reproductive fitness and survival are enhanced by adaptive behaviors that are modulated by internal physiological states and external social contexts. The common bed bug,
Oocyte composition can directly influence offspring fitness, particularly in oviparous species such as most insects, where it is the primary form of parental investment. Oocyte production is also energetically costly, dependent on female condition and responsive to external cues. Here, we investigated whether mating influences mature oocyte composition in
- Award ID(s):
- 1655840
- PAR ID:
- 10212726
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2045-2322
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Cimex lectularius , is an obligate hematophagous ectoparasite that requires host blood for growth, development, and reproduction. We investigated how mating, starvation and social interactions affect host-seeking, blood feeding, oviposition, and survival of female bed bugs. The percentage of females that fed and the amount of blood they ingested were greater in mated females (90–100%) than in unmated females (48–60%). Mating state also modulated the female’s orientation towards human skin odor in an olfactometer; more mated (69%) than unmated (23%) females responded to human odors. The response rate of unmated females (60%) to skin odor increased with longer starvation period, while the opposite pattern was observed in mated females (20%). Although fecundity after a single blood meal was unaffected by long or short residence and interaction with males, females subjected to frequent copulation attempts had lower survivorship and lifespan than females housed with males for only 24 h. Taken together, these results indicate that by adaptively and coordinately expressing behaviors based on the internal physiological state, females maximize their survival and reproductive fitness. -
Drosophila melanogaster females experience a large shift in energy homeostasis after mating to compensate for nutrient investment in egg production. To cope with this change in metabolism, mated females undergo widespread physiological and behavioral changes, including increased food intake and altered digestive processes. The mechanisms by which the female digestive system responds to mating remain poorly characterized. Here, we demonstrate that the seminal fluid protein Sex Peptide (SP) is a key modulator of female post-mating midgut growth and gene expression. SP is both necessary and sufficient to trigger post-mating midgut growth in females under normal nutrient conditions, and likely acting via its receptor, Sex Peptide Receptor (SPR). Moreover, SP is responsible for almost the totality of midgut transcriptomic changes following mating, including up-regulation of protein and lipid metabolism genes and down-regulation of carbohydrate metabolism genes. These changes in metabolism may help supply the female with the nutrients required to sustain egg production. Thus, we report a role for SP in altering female physiology to enhance reproductive output: Namely, SP triggers the switch from virgin to mated midgut state. -
Abstract Female preferences for males producing their calls just ahead of their neighbours, leader preferences, are common in acoustically communicating insects and anurans. While these preferences have been well studied, their evolutionary origins remain unclear. We tested whether females gain a fitness benefit by mating with leading males in
Neoconocephalus ensiger katydids. We mated leading and following males with random females and measured the number and quality ofF 1, the number ofF 2and the heritability of the preferred male trait. We found that females mating with leaders and followers did not differ in the number ofF 1orF 2offspring. Females mating with leading males had offspring that were in better condition than those mating with following males suggesting a benefit in the form of higher quality offspring. We found no evidence that the male trait, the production of leading calls, was heritable. This suggests that there is no genetic correlate for the production of leading calls and that the fitness benefit gained by females must be a direct benefit, potentially mediated by seminal proteins. The presence of benefits indicates that leader preference is adaptive inN. ensiger , which may explain the evolutionary origin of leader preference; further tests are required to determine whether fitness benefits can explain the phylogenetic distribution of leader preference inNeoconocephalus . The absence of heritability will prevent leader preference from becoming coupled with or exaggerating the male trait and prevent females from gaining a ‘sexy‐sons’ benefit, weakening the overall selection for leader preference. -
Abstract The mechanisms leading to changes in mesoscale chromatin organization during cellular aging are unknown. Here, we used transcriptional activator-like effectors, RNA-seq and superresolution analysis to determine the effects of genotoxic stress on oocyte chromatin structure. Major satellites are organized into tightly packed globular structures that coalesce into chromocenters and dynamically associate with the nucleolus. Acute irradiation significantly enhanced chromocenter mobility in transcriptionally inactive oocytes. In transcriptionally active oocytes, irradiation induced a striking unfolding of satellite chromatin fibers and enhanced the expression of transcripts required for protection from oxidative stress (
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Abstract Female
Drosophila melanogaster frequently mate with multiple males in nature as shown through parentage analysis. Although polyandry is well documented, we know little about the timing between mating events in wild Drosophila populations due to the challenge of following behaviours of individual females. In this study, we used the presence of a male reproductive protein that is transferred to the female during mating (Sex Peptide,SP ) to determine whether she had recently mated. We sampled females throughout the day, conducted control matings to determine the decay rate ofSP within the female reproductive tract and performed computer simulations to fit the observed proportion of mated females to a nonhomogenous Poisson process that defined the expected time between successive matings for a given female. In our control matings, 100% of mated females tested positive forSP 0.5 h after the start of mating (ASM ), but only 24% tested positive 24 hASM . Overall, 35% of wild‐caught females tested positive for the presence ofSP . Fitting our observed data to our simple nonhomogenous Poisson model provided the inference that females are mating, on average, approximately every 27 h (with 95% credibility interval 23–31 h). Thus, it appears that females are mating a bit less frequently that once per day in this natural population and that mating events tend to occur either early in the morning or late in the afternoon.