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Conspecific sperm precedence in Drosophila

Nature volume 388, pages 663–666 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Traits that influence the interactions between males and females can evolve very rapidly through sexual selection1 or sexually antagonistic coevolution2. Rapid change in the fertilization systems of independent populations can give rise to reproductive incompatibilities between populations3,4, and may contribute to speciation5. Here I provide evidence for cryptic reproductive divergence among three sibling species of Drosophila that leads to a form of postmating isolation. When a female mates with both a conspecific and a heterospecific male, the conspecific sperm fertilize the vast majority of the eggs, regardless of the order of the matings. Heterospecific sperm fertilize fewer eggs after these double matings than after single matings. Experiments using spermless males show that the seminal fluid of the conspecific male is largely responsible for this conspecific sperm precedence. Moreover, when two males of the same species mate sequentially with a female from a different species, a highly variable pattern of sperm precedence replaces the second-male sperm precedence that is consistently found within species. These results indicate that females mediate sperm competition, and that second-male sperm precedence is not an automatic consequence of the mechanics of sperm storage.

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Figure 1: Mean (+ s.e.) number of offspring per female produced after single and double conspecific matings of D. simulans, D. mauritiana and D. sechellia.
Figure 2: (+ s.e.) number of offspring per female produced after mating with a single conspecific male, a single heterospecific male, and both a conspecific and heterospecific male.
Figure 3
Figure 4

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Acknowledgements

I thank K. C. Price, P. Rooney, K. Kyle, C. Kim and K. Dyer for technical assistance; J. Coyne for inspiration and help; and H. A. Orr, M. Turelli, M. Noor, N. Johnson and M. Wade for comments. This work was supported by an NSF predoctoral fellowship to the author, and by an NIH grant to J. Coyne.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, 60637, Illinois, USA

    Catherine S. C. Price

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  1. Catherine S. C. Price
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Correspondence to Catherine S. C. Price.

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Price, C. Conspecific sperm precedence in Drosophila. Nature 388, 663–666 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41753

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