Is Male Reproductive Senescence Minimized in Mus Species With High Levels of Sperm Competition?

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Biological Journal of Linnean Society

Publication Date

2-2018

Keywords

adenosine triphosphate, age and reproduction, reproductive senescence, rodents, sperm abnormalities, sperm competition, sperm function, sperm morphology

Abstract

Sperm competition, an evolutionary process in which the spermatozoa of two or more males compete for the fertilization of the same ovum, gives rise to several morphological and physiological adaptations. Generally, high levels of sperm competition enhance sperm function. In contrast, advanced age is known to lead to reproductive senescence, including a general decline in sperm function. Sperm competition and advanced age may thus have opposing effects on sperm function. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the increase in sperm function in species experiencing high levels of sperm competition will counteract the negative effects of advanced age. We measured a comprehensive set of reproductive traits in young and old males in three species of mice of the genus Mus, which differ greatly in their levels of sperm competition. Our prediction was that the expression of reproductive senescence would be highest in the species with low levels of sperm competition and lowest in the species with high levels of sperm competition. Surprisingly, we did not find a strong signal of reproductive senescence in any of the three Mus species. Overall, our results did not clearly support our hypothesis that high levels of sperm competition minimize the negative effects of ageing on sperm function.

Funding Source

This work was supported by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC-2011-07943) and a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (PCIG11-GA-2012-321888) to J.d.-T., a Juan de la Cierva fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness to M.T. (JCI-2011-10381) and grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2011-26341 and CGL2016-80577-P to E.R.S.R. and CGL2012-37423 to J.d.-T.).

Comments

This article was originally published as delBarco-Trillo, Javier, Tourmente, Maximiliano, Varea-Sánchez, María, and Roldan, Eduardo R. S. (2018) Is male reproductive senescence minimized in Mus species with high levels of sperm competition? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 123(2): 463-470. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blx146.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blx146

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS