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Degueldre F, Aron S. Long-term sperm storage in eusocial Hymenoptera. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:567-583. [PMID: 36397639 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 10/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In internally fertilizing species, sperm transfer is not always immediately followed by egg fertilization, and female sperm storage (FSS) may occur. FSS is a phenomenon in which females store sperm in a specialized organ for periods lasting from a few hours to several years, depending on the species. Eusocial hymenopterans (ants, social bees, and social wasps) hold the record for FSS duration. In these species, mating takes place during a single nuptial flight that occurs early in adult life for both sexes; they never mate again. Males die quickly after copulation but survive posthumously as sperm stored in their mates' spermathecae. Reproductive females, also known as queens, have a much longer life expectancy, up to 20 years in some species. Here, we review what is currently known about the molecular adaptations underlying the remarkable FSS capacities in eusocial hymenopterans. Because sperm quality is crucial to the reproductive success of both sexes, we also discuss the mechanisms involved in sperm storage and preservation in the male seminal vesicles prior to ejaculation. Finally, we propose future research directions that should broaden our understanding of this unique biological phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Félicien Degueldre
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Serge Aron
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
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Shankar G, Gagan TA, Kumari TRS, Marathe GK. Sperm storage by females across the animal phyla: A survey on the occurrence and biomolecules involved in sperm storage. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART B, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2022; 340:283-297. [PMID: 36581603 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Long-term sperm storage by females in various regions of the oviduct is documented across many invertebrate and vertebrate species. Although, many reports emphasize on the histology, histochemistry and ultrastructural features of sperm storage, very little is known about the mechanisms underlying the sperm storage. The current review documents the occurrence of sperm storage by females in a wide array of invertebrate and vertebrate species. This review also provides an insight on the presence of various molecular factors of the sperm storage tubules presumably responsible for the prolonged sperm storage with an emphasis on a model reptile, the Indian garden lizard, Calotes versicolor which contains a unique approximately 55-kDa protein in its utero-vaginal lavage and found to inhibit washed epididymal sperm motility in a concentration and time-dependent manner in a reversible fashion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Goutham Shankar
- Department of Studies in Biochemistry, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India
| | - Thumbala A Gagan
- Department of Studies in Biochemistry, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India.,Department of Zoology, St. Philomena's College, Bannimantap, Mysore, Karnataka, India
| | - Titus R S Kumari
- Department of Zoology, St. Philomena's College, Bannimantap, Mysore, Karnataka, India
| | - Gopal K Marathe
- Department of Studies in Biochemistry, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India.,Department of Studies in Molecular Biology, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India
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Rovelli V, Randi E, Davoli F, Macale D, Bologna MA, Vignoli L. She gets many and she chooses the best: polygynandry inSalamandrina perspicillata(Amphibia: Salamandridae). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Rovelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze; Università Roma Tre; Viale Marconi 446 Rome 00146 Italy
| | - Ettore Randi
- Laboratorio di Genetica; ISPRA; Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale; Via Cà Fornacetta 9 Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) 40064 Italy
- Section of Biology and Environmental Science; Department of Biotechnology; Chemistry and Environmental Engineering; Aalborg University; Sohngaardsholmsvej 57 DK-9000 Aalborg Denmark
| | - Francesca Davoli
- Laboratorio di Genetica; ISPRA; Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale; Via Cà Fornacetta 9 Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO) 40064 Italy
| | - Daniele Macale
- Fondazione Bioparco di Roma; Viale del Giardino Zoologico 20; Rome 00197 Italy
| | | | - Leonardo Vignoli
- Dipartimento di Scienze; Università Roma Tre; Viale Marconi 446 Rome 00146 Italy
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Spermiophagic activity in the female genital system of some species of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Halophilosciidae). Tissue Cell 2014; 46:255-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tice.2014.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2014] [Revised: 05/23/2014] [Accepted: 05/23/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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González-León E, Ramírez-Pinilla MP. Cloacal morphology in Bolitoglossa nicefori (Caudata: Plethodontidae): Variation during the reproductive cycle. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2011; 294:349-62. [PMID: 21235010 DOI: 10.1002/ar.21306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2010] [Accepted: 09/07/2010] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Male and female plethodontid salamanders have specialized cloacal glands associated with the reproductive activity. The reproductive cycle in Bolitoglossa nicefori is characterized by males that are potentially reproductive throughout the year, and females that are reproductive only for a few months. To determine whether morphological and histochemical variation occur in cloacal structures related to reproductive activity, the cloacal region of male and female specimens of B. nicefori was studied in different stages of their annual reproductive cycle using light microscopy and compared with features reported in other plethodontid salamanders. The main anatomy and histology of the male and female cloacal regions of B. nicefori are similar to those of other salamanders; however, in comparison to other Bolitoglossa previously studied, B. nicefori has a relatively larger cloacal tube and a tubular rather than acinar spermatheca. As a common trait, the spermatheca has a common tube that diverges into two tubules, before branching into spermathecal tubules, horizontally arranged on frontal planes. The secretions of the spermathecal glands differed between reproductive and nonreproductive adult females. This secretory product consists of prevailing neutral carbohydrates that were related to the increase in ovarian follicular size during the breeding season. Sperm was found only in the spermatheca of reproductive periovulatory females, suggesting that the reproductive cycle involves a no long-term storage of sperm. Although males can produce sperm throughout the year, spermatophores, namely specialized structures involved in sperm transport, were found in their cloaca only during the breeding season. In these males, some of the cloaca-associated glands were seen to undergo change their secretory activity and their secretory products were related to spermatophore formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ezequiel González-León
- Laboratorio de Biología Reproductiva de Vertebrados, Escuela de Biología, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
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Sever DM, Siegel DS. Sperm aggregations in the spermatheca of the red back salamander (Plethodon cinereus). ACTA ZOOL-STOCKHOLM 2006. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6395.2006.00249.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Sever DM, Tait CK, Diller LV, Burkholder L. Ultrastructure of the annual cycle of female sperm storage in spermathecae of the torrent salamander, Rhyacotriton variegatus (Amphibia: Rhyacotritonidae). J Morphol 2005; 261:1-17. [PMID: 15164363 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
This study is the first report on the ultrastructure of the sperm storage glands (spermathecae) in the salamander Rhyacotriton variegatus. The population studied is associated with cold-water, rocky streams of the redwood (Sequoia) zone in northern California. Males possess sperm in their vasa deferentia and undergo spermiation throughout the year, but mating is seasonal. Most females with large, vitellogenic follicles (2.0-3.9 mm mean dia.) collected from February-June contain sperm in their spermathecae, although some females with large follicles lack sperm. Other mature-size females collected during this period have small ovarian follicles (0.9-1.2 mm mean dia.) and lack stored sperm. All females collected from September-November have small follicles (0.6-1.6 mm mean dia.) and lack sperm, except in one instance in which a female collected in November had a small amount of degraded sperm, apparently retained from the previous breeding season. The spermathecae consist of simple tubulo-alveolar glands in which the neck tubules produce a mucoid secretory product, and the distal bulbs, where sperm are stored, contain secretory vacuoles of uniform density that stain positively for glycosaminoglycans. In specimens containing sperm, some bulbs have abundant sperm and others lack sperm, but the ultrastructure is similar in both conditions. The acini contain columnar epithelial cells with wide intercellular canaliculi, and a merocrine process releases the secretion. Spermiophagy occurs. In specimens from spring and summer with small ovarian follicles, the neck tubules are similar to those of breeding females, but the distal bulbs are reduced to cords of cells lacking a discernible lumen. Secretory activity in the distal bulbs is initiated in the fall. Spermathecae of R. variegatus are most similar to those of a stream-dwelling plethodontid, Eurycea cirrigera.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Sever
- Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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Sperm Aggregations in the Spermathecae of Southern Torrent Salamanders, Rhyacotriton variegatus. J HERPETOL 2004. [DOI: 10.1670/164-03a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Abstract
The three orders of extant amphibians are Gymnophiona, Anura, and Urodela. Although all gymnophionans apparently have internal fertilization and many are viviparous, female sperm storage is unknown. Internal fertilization has convergently evolved in a few anurans, but females of just one species, Ascaphus truei, are known to possess oviductal sperm storage tubules (SSTs). The SSTs of A. truei are similar anatomically to such glands in squamate reptiles. This similarity is convergence due to similar functional adaptations and/or internal design constraints. In salamanders and newts (Urodela), absence of sperm storage in females is the ancestral condition (three families). In the derived condition, sperm storage occurs in cloacal glands called spermathecae, and their possession is a synapomorphy for females in the suborder Salamandroidea (seven families). Salamandroids are the only vertebrates with cloacal sperm storage glands. In this paper, a phenetic analysis of variation in spermathecal characters reveals patterns of convergence in certain spermathecal characters in unrelated taxa that breed in similar habitats. In the family Salamandridae, a role in sperm nutrition for the spermathecal epithelium is questioned, and the widespread occurrence of spermiophagy is related to other reproductive strategies. I propose how the packaging of sperm in structurally different types of spermathecae may influence male paternity.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Sever
- Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
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Sever DM, Halliday T, Moriarty EC, Arano B. Sperm storage in females of the smooth newt (Triturus v. vulgaris L.): II. Ultrastructure of the spermathecae after the breeding season. ACTA ZOOL-STOCKHOLM 2001. [DOI: 10.1046/j.1463-6395.2001.00069.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Sever DM, Halliday T, Waights V, Brown J, Davies HA, Moriarty EC. Sperm storage in females of the smooth newt (Triturus v. vulgaris L.): I. Ultrastructure of the spermathecae during the breeding season. THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY 1999; 283:51-70. [PMID: 9990737 DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-010x(19990101)283:1<51::aid-jez7>3.0.co;2-i] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Sperm storage in cloacal spermathecae was studied in females of Triturus v. vulgaris collected early in the breeding season in southern England. Females collected in terrestrial situations, presumably unmated, were mated in the laboratory, and the ultrastructure of the transferred sperm and the spermathecae was observed at various intervals after mating. Sperm from a spermatophore cap lodged in a female's cloacal orifice can migrate into spermathecae within 1 hr after mating. Spherical structures on the axial fibers of some sperm in the cap could indicate immaturity. Disorderly clusters of sperm from the cap are still present in the cloacal chamber 12 hr after mating but are absent 24 hr after mating. During storage, sperm often are in tangled masses in the spermathecal tubules. The sperm are coated with spermathecal secretions, and some sperm nuclei were observed embedded in the spermathecal epithelium. Little evidence for spermiophagy early in the breeding season was found. During oviposition, mazes of sperm occur external to the spermathecal orifices, and sperm may be released in this condition onto eggs as they pass through the cloaca. The tangled clusters in which sperm are found from pick-up to oviposition are hypothesized as an adaptation to reduce the effectiveness of sperm competition from the ejaculates of rival males. Additional studies, using the same protocol and covering the entire cycle of sperm storage, are necessary to enable interspecific comparisons leading to phylogenetic hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- D M Sever
- Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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Sever DM, Hamlett WC. Sperm aggregations in the spermatheca of female desmognathine salamanders (Amphibia: Urodela: Plethodontidae). J Morphol 1998; 238:143-155. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4687(199811)238:2<143::aid-jmor2>3.0.co;2-r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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Sperm morphology of salamandrids (Amphibia, Urodela): implications for phylogeny and fertilization biology. Tissue Cell 1997; 29:651-64. [DOI: 10.1016/s0040-8166(97)80041-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/1997] [Accepted: 07/17/1997] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Abstract
In northern Indiana, the mating season of Plethodon cinereus occurs after hibernation from March until June, when oviposition begins. During the mating season, a female stores sperm in its spermatheca, a compound tubular gland in the roof of the cloaca. The apical cytoplasm of the spermathecal epithelium is filled with large secretory vacuoles whose product is released while sperm are stored. Females induced to oviposit in June and July by injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) still retain much sperm 1 month after oviposition, but secretory vacuoles are absent in all specimens sacrificed in July and August. Instead, some sperm are embedded in the spermathecal epithelium with resultant spermiophagy involving lysosomes. A female sacrificed in September 2 months after oviposition possesses scant sperm, but spermiophagy alone does not seem extensive enough to account for the decrease in sperm numbers. Females sacrificed in October prior to hibernation lack sperm in their spermathecae; some secretory vacuoles are present, but they are not as numerous or as enlarged as in specimens collected in March and May. Inter- and intrafamilial differences in the cytology of sperm storage may not be phyletically informative at the family level but related to species-specific reproductive adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- D M Sever
- Department of Biology, Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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Sever DM, Rania LC, Krenz JD. Reproduction of the salamanderSiren intermedia le conte with especial reference to oviducal anatomy and mode of fertilization. J Morphol 1996; 227:335-348. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4687(199603)227:3<335::aid-jmor5>3.0.co;2-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Sever DM, Rania LC, Krenz JD. Annual cycle of sperm storage in spermathecae of the red-spotted newt,Notophthalmus viridescens (Amphibia: Salamandridae). J Morphol 1996; 227:155-170. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4687(199602)227:2<155::aid-jmor3>3.0.co;2-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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