Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr
Ejaculate quality may limit male reproductive success. Sperm cells are immunologically perceived as non-self in the male reproductive tract and may therefore be attacked by the immune system. Males may consequently have to suppress their immune system in order to produce high-quality ejaculates. Thi...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:1690214 2023-05-15T14:30:04+02:00 Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr Liljedal, S. Folstad, I. Skarstein, F. 1999-09-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690214 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 en eng http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690214 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 Article Text 1999 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 2013-08-31T12:31:46Z Ejaculate quality may limit male reproductive success. Sperm cells are immunologically perceived as non-self in the male reproductive tract and may therefore be attacked by the immune system. Males may consequently have to suppress their immune system in order to produce high-quality ejaculates. This suppression may be influenced by the current level of parasite infections, suggesting that only parasite-resistant males are able to produce high-quality ejaculates. In a study of naturally infected male Arctic charr sampled during their spawning period, we found that the density of circulating granulocytes, spleen mass and the intensity of infection by one nematode species located outside the testes were negatively associated with ejaculate quality. This suggests that a male's extra-testicular immune environment may affect the production of high-quality ejaculates and that parasite infections located in the extra-testicular soma may influence ejaculate quality, a trait most likely under directional selection. Moreover, male fertilization potential was negatively correlated with their red spawning coloration. In conclusion, these results emphasize the importance of parasites and immunity as factors generating variability in sperm quality, suggesting that parasite resistance may be of importance for maintaining variance in reproductive success even after copulation. Text Arctic charr Arctic PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 266 1431 1893 1898 |
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Article Liljedal, S. Folstad, I. Skarstein, F. Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
topic_facet |
Article |
description |
Ejaculate quality may limit male reproductive success. Sperm cells are immunologically perceived as non-self in the male reproductive tract and may therefore be attacked by the immune system. Males may consequently have to suppress their immune system in order to produce high-quality ejaculates. This suppression may be influenced by the current level of parasite infections, suggesting that only parasite-resistant males are able to produce high-quality ejaculates. In a study of naturally infected male Arctic charr sampled during their spawning period, we found that the density of circulating granulocytes, spleen mass and the intensity of infection by one nematode species located outside the testes were negatively associated with ejaculate quality. This suggests that a male's extra-testicular immune environment may affect the production of high-quality ejaculates and that parasite infections located in the extra-testicular soma may influence ejaculate quality, a trait most likely under directional selection. Moreover, male fertilization potential was negatively correlated with their red spawning coloration. In conclusion, these results emphasize the importance of parasites and immunity as factors generating variability in sperm quality, suggesting that parasite resistance may be of importance for maintaining variance in reproductive success even after copulation. |
format |
Text |
author |
Liljedal, S. Folstad, I. Skarstein, F. |
author_facet |
Liljedal, S. Folstad, I. Skarstein, F. |
author_sort |
Liljedal, S. |
title |
Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
title_short |
Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
title_full |
Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
title_fullStr |
Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
title_full_unstemmed |
Secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the Arctic charr |
title_sort |
secondary sex traits, parasites, immunity and ejaculate quality in the arctic charr |
publishDate |
1999 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690214 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 |
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Arctic |
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Arctic |
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Arctic charr Arctic |
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Arctic charr Arctic |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690214 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0863 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |
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266 |
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1431 |
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1893 |
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1898 |
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1766303992593252352 |