A female nervous system is necessary for normal sperm storage in Drosophila melanogaster: a masculinized nervous system is as good as none

Abstract

Restricted accessMoreSectionsView PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Cite this article Arthur Benjamin, Hauschteck-Jungen Elisabeth, Nöthiger Rolf and Ward Paul I. 1998A female nervous system is necessary for normal sperm storage in Drosophila melanogaster: a masculinized nervous system is as good as noneProc. R. Soc. Lond. B.2651749–1753http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1998.0498SectionRestricted accessA female nervous system is necessary for normal sperm storage in Drosophila melanogaster: a masculinized nervous system is as good as none Benjamin Arthur Benjamin Arthur Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Elisabeth Hauschteck-Jungen Elisabeth Hauschteck-Jungen Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Rolf Nöthiger Rolf Nöthiger Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Paul I. Ward Paul I. Ward Zoologisches Museum der Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Benjamin Arthur Benjamin Arthur Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Elisabeth Hauschteck-Jungen Elisabeth Hauschteck-Jungen Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author , Rolf Nöthiger Rolf Nöthiger Zoologisches Institut, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Paul I. Ward Paul I. Ward Zoologisches Museum der Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Published:22 September 1998https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1998.0498AbstractA male Drosophila melanogaster deposits many more sperm in a female's bursa copulatrix than are stored in her ventral receptacle or paired spermathecae soon after copula has ended. The remaining sperm are expelled by the female. These observations suggest a sexual conflict over the processes involved in sperm storage. We used genetically manipulated flies to study the role of the central nervous system in sperm storage. Flies with female bodies but masculinized nervous systems, or isolated female abdomens, stored significantly fewer sperm than did control females. Furthermore, compared with control flies, there were relatively more sperm in the ventral receptacle and relatively fewer in the spermathecae. These results suggest that the female nervous input counteracts the male's attempts to force sperm into the ventral receptacle during copula and promotes active transport of sperm to the spermathecae during and after copula. The female is clearly a very active partner in influencing processes involved in sperm competition, especially as only stored sperm can be used later to fertilize eggs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show directly the involvement of the female nervous system in sperm storage. Previous ArticleNext Article VIEW FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD PDF FiguresRelatedReferencesDetailsCited by Chen D, Delbare S, White S, Sitnik J, Chatterjee M, DoBell E, Weiss O, Clark A and Wolfner M (2019) Female Genetic Contributions to Sperm Competition in Drosophila melanogaster , Genetics, 10.1534/genetics.119.302284, 212:3, (789-800), Online publication date: 1-Jul-2019. 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