Abstract
BackgroundMolecular genetic analyses of parentage provide insights into mating systems. Although there are 22,000 members in Malacostraca, not much has been known about mating systems in Malacostraca. The freshwater shrimp Caridina ensifera blue, is a new species belonging to Malacostraca which was discovered recently in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Due to its small body size and low fecundity, this species is an ideal species to study the occurrence and frequency of multiple paternity and to understand of how the low fecundity species persist and evolve.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study, we developed four polymorphic microsatellites from C. ensifera and applied them to investigate the occurrence and frequency of multiple paternity in 20 C. ensifera broods caught from Lake Matano, Sulawesi. By genotyping the mother and all offspring from each brood we discovered multiple paternity in all 20 broods. In most of the 20 broods, fathers contributed skewed numbers of offspring and there was an apparent inverse correlation between reproductive success of sires and their relatedness to mothers.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results in combination with recent reports on multiple paternity in crayfish, crab and lobster species suggests that multiple paternity is common in Malacostraca. Skewed contribution of fathers to the numbers of offspring and inverse correlation between reproductive success of sires and their relatedness to mothers suggest that sperm competition occurred and/or pre- and postcopulatory female choice happen, which may be important for avoiding the occurrence of inbreeding and optimize genetic variation in offspring and for persistence and evolution of low fecundity species.
Highlights
Inferring of parentage of individuals in natural populations is important in understanding mating behaviour, which is of importance for studying reproductive strategies, sperm competition, cryptic female choice, and evolution [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Benefits of multiple mating include (1) prolonged guarding of vulnerable females by their mate [11]; (2) ensuring fertilization because (a) some males may be sterile, (b) males invest less sperm than females require when they partition their ejaculate among multiple females; or (c) there is a reduction of active sperm in storage organs due to passive loss or sperm mortality over time [12]; (3) avoiding genetic incompatibility [13], inbreeding [14,15] and genetic defects resulting from stored sperm [16]; and (4) promoting the gain of ‘good genes’ and increasing genetic diversity among offspring [17]
Collection of females and DNA extraction Twenty gravid females of C. ensifera blue were collected from the south part (02u 33.579 S, 121u 25.19 E) of Matano Lake, Sulawesi, Indonesia (Fig. 1) in June 2008
Summary
Inferring of parentage of individuals in natural populations is important in understanding mating behaviour, which is of importance for studying reproductive strategies, sperm competition, cryptic female choice, and evolution [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Parentage in natural populations is very difficult to determine by field observations, because usually mating can not be observed in the wild. With the advent of polymorphic DNA markers [7] and sophisticated statistic tools [8], parentage in wild populations can be determined [9]. Mating behaviour and the extent of multiple mating by male and female individuals are important components of life-history traits. Disadvantages include an increased risk of predation and disease transmission [10]. Due to its small body size and low fecundity, this species is an ideal species to study the occurrence and frequency of multiple paternity and to understand of how the low fecundity species persist and evolve
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