%0 Journal Article
%T Heritable determinants of male fertilization success in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans
%A Rosalind L Murray
%A Joanna L Kozlowska
%A Asher D Cutter
%J BMC Evolutionary Biology
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2148-11-99
%X We document significant variation in courtship ability, mating ability, sperm size and sperm production rate. Sperm size and production rate were strong indicators of early fertilization success for males that mated second, but male genetic backgrounds conferring faster sperm production make smaller sperm, despite virgin males of all genetic backgrounds transferring indistinguishable numbers of sperm to mating partners.We have demonstrated that sperm size and the rate of sperm production represent dominant factors in determining male fertilization success and that C. elegans harbors substantial heritable variation for traits contributing to male reproductive success. C. elegans provides a powerful, tractable system for studying sexual selection and for dissecting the genetic basis and evolution of reproduction-related traits.Anisogamy, the occurrence of different sized gametes in different mating types or sexes, commonly manifests as small male gametes and large female gametes; the small male gametes (sperm) tend to be more numerous than female gametes (oocytes) [1]. When two or more males compete for the fertilization of oocytes in a multiply-mated female, then it is often true that the male that produces the most sperm will procure the greatest fertilization success [1]. This type of sperm competition (a 'fair raffle') can lead to selection for more, and further miniaturized, male gametes as limited resources are allocated to create more individual gametes [2,3]. However, if multiple sperm actively and directly compete for fertilization rather than being used passively in such a 'lottery,' then the evolution of larger sperm size commonly evolves [4-7] - potentially at the expense of ejaculates containing fewer sperm. Thus, sperm number per ejaculate and sperm size form two important components affecting post-mating fertilization success, with potentially differing fitness optima and developmental constraints that depend on the details of the regime of sperm compet
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/11/99