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Reproductive biology

Distinguished sperm in competition

Nature volume 400, pages 406–407 (1999)Cite this article

For most species of animal, females are usually inseminated by more than one male in any particular breeding cycle. The result is competition between the sperm to fertilize the female's eggs. Such sperm competition is a powerful but subtle evolutionary force that shapes both behaviour and physiology1,2. A common pattern, especially among insects and other invertebrates, is for the last of the several males that inseminate a female to fertilize most of her eggs. ‘Last-male sperm precedence’, as it is called, has been known in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster since 1920. But despite many investigations3, researchers have not yet reached a consensus regarding the underlying mechanism. In their paper on page 449 of this issue, Price et al.4 describe two processes that work together in a subtle combination to produce last-male sperm precedence.

The fruitfly was one of the first animals in which sperm competition was investigated. Its various mutants provide reliable genetic markers (such as eye colour) that can be used for assigning paternity to particular males in laboratory populations. Such studies showed that, typically, the second of two males to inseminate a female fathers about 80% of her offspring. Researchers speculated about potential mechanisms. One possibility was that sperm from the most recent insemination physically displaces previous deposits, pushing them to the back of the female's sperm store, such that successive ejaculates could become stratified. This would result in a ‘last in, first out’ system5.

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Figure 1: Untangling sperm competition in Drosophila.

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References

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  1. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Tim Birkhead

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  1. Tim Birkhead
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Birkhead, T. Distinguished sperm in competition. Nature 400, 406–407 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/22650

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