Abstract
In many animals, mating is essential for the production of offspring by females; however, mating seems to not be necessary in Hymenoptera insects. Virgin females can produce offspring, although the sex of the offspring is all male. Usually, behavioural and physiological changes are induced by mating in female insects, including parasitoid wasps. However, very little is known about the resulting changes in gene expression that contribute to the post-mating response in females; thus, we studied this aspect in the egg parasitoid wasp species Anastatus disparis (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae) by transcriptional analysis. A total of 55 differentially expressed genes were identified in post-mating females, and most of the genes (90.9%) were downregulated. Upregulated genes encoded products that were mainly involved in fatty acid synthesis and pyrimidine metabolism, while the downregulated genes were mainly involved in substance transport and metabolism. In addition, post-mating A. disparis females exhibited a tendency to accelerate egg maturation and became unreceptive to further mating. Based on the transcriptional data, we discuss how specific genes mediate these behavioural and physiological changes. Overall, our study provided new and comprehensive insights into post-mating changes in females and provided a basis for future mechanistic studies.
Highlights
In many animals, mating is essential for the production of offspring by females [1,2]; mating seems to not be necessary in Hymenoptera, in which sex determination is haplodiploid
In the egg parasitoid wasp A. disparis, post-mating females become unattractive and exhibit accelerated egg maturation, which is accompanied by substantial changes in gene expression
The changes in gene expression prompted by mating observed in our study provide insight and useful information to improve comprehension of behavioural and physiological changes, which are discussed below
Summary
In many animals, mating is essential for the production of offspring by females [1,2]; mating seems to not be necessary in Hymenoptera, in which sex determination is haplodiploid. Mating often induces behavioural and physiological changes in female insects [5], including parasitoid wasps. Most commonly, these changes include increased oviposition behaviour and repression of subsequent sexual activity as a result of the transfer of male accessory gland substances [6]. Compared to mated females, unmated females are usually likely to exhibit reduced fitness, especially in highly structured populations, where brothers compete for mates and the reproductive return through sons is low, requiring females to minimize the number of male offspring [7,8,9]. In many species, mated females produce more offspring than virgin females [12,13,14,15]; there have been a few reports of virgin females producing more offspring than mated females [16 –18], and many species exhibit no significant difference [1,19,20,21,22,23]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
