TY - JOUR
T1 - Honey bee males and queens use glandular secretions to enhance sperm viability before and after storage
AU - Den Boer, Susanne Petronella A
AU - Boomsma, Jacobus Jan
AU - Baer, Boris
N1 - Keywords: Apis mellifera; Ejaculate; Seminal fluid; Accessory glands; Spermatheca; Social insects
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Internal fertilization requires live sperm to be transferred from male to female before egg fertilization. Both males and females assist the insemination process by providing sperm with glandular secretions, which have been inferred to contain subsets of proteins that maintain sperm viability. Here we show that in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) secretions of the male accessory glands, the major contributors towards seminal fluid, enhance sperm survival. We further demonstrate that the protein fraction of the male accessory gland secretion is indeed important for achieving the maximal effect on sperm survival. After sperm storage, the queens also provide sperm with secretions from spermathecal glands and we show that these secretions have a comparable positive effect on sperm viability. SDS gels show that the proteomic profiles of accessory gland secretion and spermathecal fluid secretion hardly overlap, which suggests that males and females use different proteins to enhance sperm viability during, respectively, ejaculation and final sperm storage.
AB - Internal fertilization requires live sperm to be transferred from male to female before egg fertilization. Both males and females assist the insemination process by providing sperm with glandular secretions, which have been inferred to contain subsets of proteins that maintain sperm viability. Here we show that in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) secretions of the male accessory glands, the major contributors towards seminal fluid, enhance sperm survival. We further demonstrate that the protein fraction of the male accessory gland secretion is indeed important for achieving the maximal effect on sperm survival. After sperm storage, the queens also provide sperm with secretions from spermathecal glands and we show that these secretions have a comparable positive effect on sperm viability. SDS gels show that the proteomic profiles of accessory gland secretion and spermathecal fluid secretion hardly overlap, which suggests that males and females use different proteins to enhance sperm viability during, respectively, ejaculation and final sperm storage.
KW - Faculty of Science
U2 - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.01.012
DO - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.01.012
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 19232404
SN - 0022-1910
VL - 55
SP - 538
EP - 543
JO - Journal of Insect Physiology
JF - Journal of Insect Physiology
IS - 6
ER -