Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sperm predence in a hermaphroditic nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) is due to competitive superiority of male sperm

  • Research Articles
  • Published:
Experientia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

When male and hermaphroditeCaenorhabditis elegans mate, the male's sperm outcompete the hermaphrodite's own sperm and fertilize a majority of the offspring. Here, we investigate the mechanism of male sperm precedence. We rule out the possibility that male sperm are stronger and more competitive because they are activated later than hermaphrodite sperm. We also find that a previously known gender difference in sperm activation does not influence sperm competition. Male sperm, rinsed free of seminal fluid, retained the capacity to take precedence after artificial insemination. Therefore, we conclude that male sperm themselves are competitively superior to hermaphrodite sperm. This trait maximizes outcrossing after mating and may increase both genetic diversity and heterozygosity of offspring whose parents, due to self-fertilization, may be highly homozygous.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Barker, D. M., Anim. Behav.48 (1994) 147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Van Voorhies, W. A., Nature360 (1992) 456.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Shakes, D. C., and Ward, S., Devl Biol.134 (1989) 189.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ward, S., and Carrel, J. S., Devl Biol.73 (1979) 304.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Waller, D. M., in: The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding, p. 97. Ed. N. W. Thornhill. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Honda, H., J. morph. Physiol.40 (1925) 191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Argon, Y., and Ward, S., Genetics96 (1980) 413.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Brenner, S., Genetics77 (1974) 71.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. LaMunyon, C. W., and Ward, S., Genetics138 (1994) 689.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Nelson, G. A., and Ward, S., Cell.19 (1980) 457.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Klass, M. R., and Hirsh, D., Devl Biol.84 (1981) 299.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Silberglied, R. E., Shepherd, J. G., and Dickinson, J. L., Am. Nat.123 (1984) 255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Dickinson, J. L., Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol.18 (1986) 331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Simmons, L. W., and Parker, G. A., Evolution46 (1992) 366.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. von Helverson, D., and von Helverson, O., Behav. ecol. Sociobiol.28 (1991) 391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Waage, J. K., Science203 (1979) 916.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Walker, W. F., Am. Nat.115 (1980) 780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. LaMunyon, C. W., and Eisner, T., Proc. natl Acad. Sci. USA91 (1994) 7081.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. LaMunyon, C. W., and Eisner, T., Proc. natl Acad. Sci. USA90 (1993) 4689.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Dewsbury, D. A., in: Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating Systems, p. 547 Ed. R. L. Smith. Academic, Orlando, Florida (USA) 1984.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. O'Brien, S. J., Roelke, M. E., Marker, L., Newman, A., Winkler, C. A., Meltzer, D., Colly, L., Evermann, J. F., Bush, M., and Wildt, D. E., Science227 (1985) 1428.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Maynard Smith, J., in: Group Selection, p. 163. Ed. G. C. Williams. Aldine-Atherton, Chicago, Illinois (USA) 1971.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Bernstein, H., Hopf, F. A., and Michod, R. E., in: The Evolution of Sex: An Examination of Current Ideas, p. 139. Eds R. E. Michod and B. R. Levin. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts (USA) 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Muller, H. J., Mutat. Res.1 (1964) 2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Felsenstein, J., Genetics78 (1974) 737.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Heller, R., and Maynard Smith, J., Genet. Res.34 (1978) 289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Beardmore, J. A., in: Genetics and Conservation, p. 125. Eds. C. M. Schonewald-Cox, S. M. Chambers, B. MacBryde and W. L. Thomas. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, California (USA) 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Wildt, D. E., Bush, M., Goodrowe, K. L., Packer, C., Pusey, A. E., Brown, J. L., Joslin, P., and O'Brien, S. J., Nature329 (1987) 328.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Sulston, J., and Hodgkin, J., in: The NematodeCaenorhabditis elegans, p. 589. Ed. W. B. Wood. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Monograph 17, Cold Spring Harbor, New York (USA) 1988

  30. Wood, W. B., Hecht, R., Carr, S., Vanderslice, R., Wolf, N., and Hirsh, D., Devl Biol.74 (1980) 446.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Poinar, G. O., The Natural History of Nematodes. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (USA) 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Baird, S. E., Sutherlin, M. E., and Emmons, S. W., Evolution46 (1992) 585.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Sokal, R. R., and Rohlf, F. J., Biometry. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York (USA) 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Rice, W. R., Evolution43 (1989) 223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    C. W. LaMunyon & S. Ward

Authors
  1. C. W. LaMunyon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. Ward
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

LaMunyon, C.W., Ward, S. Sperm predence in a hermaphroditic nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) is due to competitive superiority of male sperm. Experientia 51, 817–823 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01922436

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01922436

Key words

Search

Navigation