WHO’S YOUR DADDY: Seminal fluid proteins from the hermaphroditic snail Lymnaea stagnalis can reduce the sperm production and paternity success of mates. In experiments by Joris Keone’s group, snail Y inseminates snail A (1), subsequently reducing A’s sperm production compared to snail B, who has not mated (2). When A goes on to inseminate snail C (3), A ends up fathering a smaller percentage of C’s brood than when B mates with snail D, in which case snail B fathers nearly all of D’s brood (4). © SCOTT LEIGHTON
The paper
Y. Nakadera et al., “Receipt of seminal fluid proteins causes reduction of male investment in a simultaneous hermaphrodite,” Curr Biol, 24:859-62, 2014.
Although copulation is often brief, males of many animal species leave a lasting impression on their mates. The seminal fluid they deposit contains not just sperm, but proteins that can alter the physiology and behavior of the female, often in ways that hurt the paternal success of her subsequent mates. Among hermaphrodites—animals with both male and female reproductive organs—mates themselves are potential competitors, too, and copulation gives seminal fluid proteins the unique opportunity to directly manipulate the recipient’s male as well as female function.
Ovipostatin, a seminal fluid protein (SFP) in the hermaphroditic freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis, cuts egg production in ...
