Divergence of seminal fluid gene expression and function among natural snail populations

© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society for Evolutionary Biology..

Seminal fluid proteins (SFPs) can trigger drastic changes in mating partners, mediating post-mating sexual selection and associated sexual conflict. Also, cross-species comparisons have demonstrated that SFPs evolve rapidly and hint that post-mating sexual selection drives their rapid evolution. In principle, this pattern should be detectable within species as rapid among-population divergence in SFP expression and function. However, given the multiple other factors that could vary among populations, isolating divergence in SFP-mediated effects is not straightforward. Here, we attempted to address this gap by combining the power of a common garden design with functional assays involving artificial injection of SFPs in the simultaneously hermaphroditic freshwater snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. We detected among-population divergence in SFP gene expression, suggesting that seminal fluid composition differs among four populations collected in Western Europe. Furthermore, by artificially injecting seminal fluid extracted from these field-derived snails into standardized mating partners, we also detected among-population divergence in the strength of post-mating effects induced by seminal fluid. Both egg production and subsequent sperm transfer of partners differed depending on the population origin of seminal fluid, with the response in egg production seemingly closely corresponding to among-population divergence in SFP gene expression. Our results thus lend strong intraspecific support to the notion that SFP expression and function evolve rapidly, and confirm L. stagnalis as an amenable system for studying processes driving SFP evolution.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:33

Enthalten in:

Journal of evolutionary biology - 33(2020), 10 vom: 18. Okt., Seite 1440-1451

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Nakadera, Yumi [VerfasserIn]
Thornton Smith, Alice [VerfasserIn]
Daupagne, Léa [VerfasserIn]
Coutellec, Marie-Agnès [VerfasserIn]
Koene, Joris M [VerfasserIn]
Ramm, Steven A [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Accessory gland proteins
Among-population divergence
Comparative Study
Functional assay
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Sexual conflict
Sexual selection
Simultaneous hermaphrodite

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 05.07.2021

Date Revised 05.07.2021

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1111/jeb.13683

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM312739982