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de Souza AR, Santos EF, Baptista CF, Dias G, Nascimento FS, Lino-Neto J. Sperm length variation is linked to sexual ornamentation in male paper wasps. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2022.2120083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- André R. de Souza
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
| | - Eduardo F. Santos
- Departamento de Zoologia e Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, São José do Rio Preto, Brasil
| | - Camila F. Baptista
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil
| | - Glenda Dias
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil
| | - Fábio S. Nascimento
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil
| | - José Lino-Neto
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil
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2
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Smirnov GY. Sperm Motility in Bank (Clethrionomys glareolus) and Northern Red-backed Voles (Cl. rutilus) Exposed to Industrial Pollution. RUSS J ECOL+ 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s1067413622010106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Apical Sperm Hook Morphology Is Linked to Sperm Swimming Performance and Sperm Aggregation in Peromyscus Mice. Cells 2021; 10:cells10092279. [PMID: 34571928 PMCID: PMC8471468 DOI: 10.3390/cells10092279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2021] [Revised: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mammals exhibit a tremendous amount of variation in sperm morphology and despite the acknowledgement of sperm structural diversity across taxa, its functional significance remains poorly understood. Of particular interest is the sperm of rodents. While most Eutherian mammal spermatozoa are relatively simple cells with round or paddle-shaped heads, rodent sperm are often more complex and, in many species, display a striking apical hook. The function of the sperm hook remains largely unknown, but it has been hypothesized to have evolved as an adaptation to inter-male sperm competition and thus has been implicated in increased swimming efficiency or in the formation of collective sperm movements. Here we empirically test these hypotheses within a single lineage of Peromyscus rodents, in which closely related species naturally vary in their mating systems, sperm head shapes, and propensity to form sperm aggregates of varying sizes. We performed sperm morphological analyses as well as in vitro analyses of sperm aggregation and motility to examine whether the sperm hook (i) morphologically varies across these species and (ii) associates with sperm competition, aggregation, or motility. We demonstrate inter-specific variation in the sperm hook and then show that hook width negatively associates with sperm aggregation and sperm swimming speed, signifying that larger hooks may be a hindrance to sperm movement within this group of mice. Finally, we confirmed that the sperm hook hinders motility within a subset of Peromyscus leucopus mice that spontaneously produced sperm with no or highly abnormal hooks. Taken together, our findings suggest that any adaptive value of the sperm hook is likely associated with a function other than inter-male sperm competition, such as interaction with ova or cumulous cells during fertilization, or migration through the complex female reproductive tract.
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Wakabayashi H, Saitoh T. Estimation of multiple male mating frequency using paternity skew: An example from a grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) population. Mol Ecol Resour 2019; 20:444-456. [PMID: 31736261 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Multiple male mating (MMM) causes sperm competition, which may play an important role in the evolution of reproductive traits. The frequency of multiple paternity (MP), where multiple males sire offspring within a single litter, has been used as an index of MMM frequency. However, MP frequency is necessarily lower than MMM frequency. The magnitude of the difference between MMM and MP frequency depends on litter size (LS) and fertilization probability skew (FPS), and this difference may be meaningfully large in animals with small LSs. In this study, we propose a method to estimate MMM frequency using an individual-based model with three variables (MP frequency, LS and FPS). We incorporated observed paternity skew data to infer a possible range of FPS that cannot be measured in free-living populations and tested the validity of our method using a data set from a grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) population and from hypothetical populations. MP was found in 50 out of 215 litters (23.3%) in the grey-sided vole population, while MMM frequency was estimated in 67 of 215 litters (31.2%), with a certainty range of 59-88 (27.4%-40.9%). The point estimation of MMM frequency was realized, and the certainty range was limited within the practical range. The use of observed paternity skew was very effective at narrowing the certainty range of the estimate. Our method could contribute to a deeper understanding of the ecology of MMM in free-living populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroko Wakabayashi
- Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Takashi Saitoh
- Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
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Breed WG, Hassan H, Gonzalez M, McLennan HJ, Leigh CM, Heaney LR. Interspecific diversity of testes mass and sperm morphology in the Philippine chrotomyine rodents: implications for differences in breeding systems across the species. Reprod Fertil Dev 2019; 31:705-711. [PMID: 30475689 DOI: 10.1071/rd18278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2018] [Accepted: 10/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The high diversity of native Philippine murid rodents includes an old endemic group, the chrotomyines, which are the sister group of the Australasian hydromyines. Herein we detail their interspecific diversity of relative testes mass (RTM) and sperm morphology. We find that in chrotomyines, as in the Australasian hydromyines, testes mass relative to body mass differs by an order of magnitude across the species and ranges from a large RTM in Soricomys and Chrotomys species to a small RTM in Apomys. Sperm morphology is associated with these findings, with individuals in species of Soricomys and Chrotomys producing relatively larger spermatozoa with a prominent apical hook and long tail, whereas, by contrast, the Apomys species have a sperm head that either has a very short or no apical hook and a shorter tail. These findings indicate coevolution of RTM with sperm morphological traits across the species, with the marked interspecific differences in RTM suggesting differences in the intensity of intermale sperm competition and hence breeding system. Thus, we hypothesise that species of Soricomys and Chrotomys that produce more streamlined spermatozoa with longer tails have a polyandrous or promiscuous mating system, whereas the Apomys species, which produce smaller and less streamlined spermatozoa, may exhibit monogamy.
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Affiliation(s)
- William G Breed
- Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Hazirah Hassan
- Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Macarena Gonzalez
- Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Hanna J McLennan
- Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Chris M Leigh
- Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Lawrence R Heaney
- Field Museum of Natural History, Division of Mammals, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA
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Edme A, Zobač P, Korsten P, Albrecht T, Schmoll T, Krist M. Moderate heritability and low evolvability of sperm morphology in a species with high risk of sperm competition, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis. J Evol Biol 2018; 32:205-217. [PMID: 30449037 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Revised: 11/02/2018] [Accepted: 11/14/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Spermatozoa represent the morphologically most diverse type of animal cells and show remarkable variation in size across and also within species. To understand the evolution of this diversity, it is important to reveal to what degree this variation is genetic or environmental in origin and whether this depends on species' life histories. Here we applied quantitative genetic methods to a pedigreed multigenerational data set of the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis, a passerine bird with high levels of extra-pair paternity, to partition genetic and environmental sources of phenotypic variation in sperm dimensions for the first time in a natural population. Narrow-sense heritability (h2 ) of total sperm length amounted to 0.44 ± 0.14 SE, whereas the corresponding figure for evolvability (estimated as coefficient of additive genetic variation, CVa ) was 0.02 ± 0.003 SE. We also found an increase in total sperm length within individual males between the arrival and nestling period. This seasonal variation may reflect constraints in the production of fully elongated spermatozoa shortly after arrival at the breeding grounds. There was no evidence of an effect of male age on sperm dimensions. In many previous studies on laboratory populations of several insect, mammal and avian species, heritabilities of sperm morphology were higher, whereas evolvabilities were similar. Explanations for the differences in heritability may include variation in the environment (laboratory vs. wild), intensity of sexual selection via sperm competition (high vs. low) and genetic architecture that involves unusual linkage disequilibrium coupled with overdominance in one of the studied species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anaïs Edme
- Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Zobač
- Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Peter Korsten
- Department of Animal Behaviour, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Tomáš Albrecht
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tim Schmoll
- Evolutionary Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Miloš Krist
- Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.,Museum of Natural History, Olomouc, Czech Republic
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Ferres KM, McPherson NO, Lane M, Bakos HW, Kind KL, Breed WG. Gamete cryopreservation of Australian 'old endemic' rodents – spermatozoa from the plains mouse (Pseudomys
australis) and spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis). AUSTRALIAN MAMMALOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1071/am16055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Most of the Australian ‘old endemic’ rodents have greatly reduced distributions with several species now threatened with extinction. Application of assisted reproductive technology has the potential to assist in their conservation programs in at least a few species. Here we describe an attempt to cryopreserve spermatozoa from two of these species – those of the plains mouse (Pseudomys australis) and spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis), which have dramatic differences in sperm morphology. Slow and rapid freezing and three different cryoprotectant media with either raffinose, glycerol and/or skim milk were used and the results compared with those of house mouse sperm, which were used as controls. Sperm morphology, motility, membrane integrity and DNA damage were determined. Prior to cryopreservation there was a higher percentage of morphologically normal, motile, P. australis sperm than in those from N. alexis. Following cryopreservation, regardless of treatment, the percentage of motile sperm was low but it was higher when raffinose with skim milk was used as a cryoprotectant than in raffinose with glycerol albeit that minimal differences in membrane integrity or DNA damage were evident. Raffinose with skim milk should thus be used as a cryoprotectant for storing sperm of these Australian rodents in the future.
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Pahl T, McLennan HJ, Wang Y, Achmadi AS, Rowe KC, Aplin K, Breed WG. Sperm morphology of the Rattini – are the interspecific differences due to variation in intensity of intermale sperm competition? Reprod Fertil Dev 2018; 30:1434-1442. [DOI: 10.1071/rd17431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
It is widely accepted that in mammals a causal relationship exists between postcopulatory sexual selection and relative testes mass of the species concerned, but how much it determines sperm size and shape is debatable. Here we detailed for the largest murine rodent tribe, the Rattini, the interspecific differences in relative testes mass and sperm form. We found that residual testes mass correlates with sperm head apical hook length as well as its angle, together with tail length, and that within several lineages a few species have evolved highly divergent sperm morphology with a reduced or absent apical hook and shorter tail. Although most species have a relative testes mass of 1–4%, these derived sperm traits invariably co-occur in species with much smaller relative testes mass. We therefore suggest that high levels of intermale sperm competition maintain a sperm head with a long apical hook and long tail, whereas low levels of intermale sperm competition generally result in divergent sperm heads with a short or non-existent apical hook and shorter tail. We thus conclude that sexual selection is a major selective force in driving sperm head form and tail length in this large tribe of murine rodents.
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Monclus MA, Fornes MW. Sperm conjugation in mammal reproductive function: Different names for the same phenomenon? Mol Reprod Dev 2016; 83:884-896. [DOI: 10.1002/mrd.22636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 02/24/2016] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Angeles Monclus
- Department of Morphology and Physiology; Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza (IHEM) Histology and Embryology; School of Medicine; National University of Cuyo; Conicet; Mendoza Argentina
| | - Miguel Walter Fornes
- Department of Morphology and Physiology; Instituto de Histología y Embriología de Mendoza (IHEM) Histology and Embryology; School of Medicine; National University of Cuyo; Conicet; Mendoza Argentina
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Tourmente M, Zarka-Trigo D, Roldan ERS. Is the hook of muroid rodent's sperm related to sperm train formation? J Evol Biol 2016; 29:1168-77. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2015] [Revised: 02/05/2016] [Accepted: 03/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- M. Tourmente
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group; Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
| | - D. Zarka-Trigo
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group; Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
| | - E. R. S. Roldan
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group; Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC); Madrid Spain
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McLennan HJ, Lüpold S, Smissen P, Rowe KC, Breed WG. Greater sperm complexity in the Australasian old endemic rodents (Tribe: Hydromyini) is associated with increased levels of inter-male sperm competition. Reprod Fertil Dev 2016; 29:RD15425. [PMID: 26922469 DOI: 10.1071/rd15425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2015] [Accepted: 01/08/2016] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Spermatozoa exhibit considerable interspecies morphological variation across mammals, especially among murid rodents. In Australasia, most murids in the tribe Hydromyini have a spermatozoon with a highly complex head exhibiting an apical hook, characteristic of most murids, and two projections that extend from its upper concave surface, the ventral processes. In the present study we performed a phylogenetically controlled comparison of sperm morphology across 45 species of hydromyine rodents to test the hypothesis that the length and angle of both the apical hook and ventral processes, as well as the length of the sperm tail, increase with relative testes mass as a proxy for differences in levels of inter-male sperm competition. Although both sperm head protrusions exhibited considerable variation in their length and angle across species, only the angles increased significantly in relation to relative testes mass. Further, the length of the sperm flagellum was positively associated with relative testes mass. These results suggest that, in hydromyine rodents, the angle of the apical hook and ventral processes of the sperm head, as well as the sperm tail length, are likely to be sexually selected traits. The possible functional significance of these findings is briefly discussed.
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Ros-Santaella JL, Pintus E, Garde JJ. Intramale variation in sperm size: functional significance in a polygynous mammal. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1478. [PMID: 26664807 PMCID: PMC4675104 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2015] [Accepted: 11/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies concerning the relationships between sperm size and velocity at the intraspecific level are quite limited and often yielded contradictory results across the animal kingdom. Intramale variation in sperm size may represent a meaningful factor to predict sperm velocity, due to its relationship with the level of sperm competition among related taxa. Because sperm phenotype is under post-copulatory sexual selection, we hypothesized that a reduced intramale variation in sperm size is associated with sperm competitiveness in red deer. Our results show that low variation in sperm size is strongly related to high sperm velocity and normal sperm morphology, which in turn are good predictors of male fertility in this species. Furthermore, it is well known that the red deer show high variability in testicular mass but there is limited knowledge concerning the significance of this phenomenon at intraspecific level, even though it may reveal interesting processes of sexual selection. Thereby, as a preliminary result, we found that absolute testes mass is negatively associated with intramale variation in sperm size. Our findings suggest that sperm size variation in red deer is under a strong selective force leading to increase sperm function efficiency, and reveal new insights into sexual selection mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Luis Ros-Santaella
- SaBio, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM) , Albacete , Spain ; Department of Animal Science and Food Processing/Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
| | - Eliana Pintus
- Department of Veterinary Sciences/Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague , Prague , Czech Republic
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McLennan HJ, Tuke J, Breed WG. The Gerbil Spermatozoon - interspecific variation in morphology does not invariably follow murine rodent evolutionary trends in response to predicted intermale sperm competition. ACTA ZOOL-STOCKHOLM 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/azo.12129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hanna J. McLennan
- Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology; School of Medical Sciences; Faculty of Health Sciences; The University of Adelaide; Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
| | - Jonathan Tuke
- School of Mathematical Sciences; The University of Adelaide; Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
| | - William G. Breed
- Discipline of Anatomy and Pathology; School of Medical Sciences; Faculty of Health Sciences; The University of Adelaide; Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
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Varea-Sánchez M, Gómez Montoto L, Tourmente M, Roldan ERS. Postcopulatory sexual selection results in spermatozoa with more uniform head and flagellum sizes in rodents. PLoS One 2014; 9:e108148. [PMID: 25243923 PMCID: PMC4171531 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2013] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Interspecific comparative studies have shown that, in most taxa, postcopulatory sexual selection (PCSS) in the form of sperm competition drives the evolution of longer and faster swimming sperm. Work on passserine birds has revealed that PCSS also reduces variation in sperm size between males at the intraspecific level. However, the influence of PCSS upon intra-male sperm size diversity is poorly understood, since the few studies carried out to date in birds have yielded contradictory results. In mammals, PCSS increases sperm size but there is little information on the effects of this selective force on variations in sperm size and shape. Here, we test whether sperm competition associates with a reduction in the degree of variation of sperm dimensions in rodents. We found that as sperm competition levels increase males produce sperm that are more similar in both the size of the head and the size of the flagellum. On the other hand, whereas with increasing levels of sperm competition there is less variation in head length in relation to head width (ratio CV head length/CV head width), there is no relation between variation in head and flagellum sizes (ratio CV head length/CV flagellum length). Thus, it appears that, in addition to a selection for longer sperm, sperm competition may select more uniform sperm heads and flagella, which together may enhance swimming velocity. Overall, sperm competition seems to drive sperm components towards an optimum design that may affect sperm performance which, in turn, will be crucial for successful fertilization.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Varea-Sánchez
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Laura Gómez Montoto
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Maximiliano Tourmente
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Eduardo R. S. Roldan
- Reproductive Ecology and Biology Group, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
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