| Exceptional sperm cooperation in the wood mouse. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 12110888 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Spermatozoa from a single male will compete for fertilization of ova with spermatozoa from another male when present in the female reproductive tract at the same time. Close genetic relatedness predisposes individuals towards altruism, and as haploid germ cells of an ejaculate will have genotypic similarity of 50%, it is predicted that spermatozoa may display cooperation and altruism to gain an advantage when inter-male sperm competition is intense. We report here the probable altruistic behaviour of spermatozoa in an eutherian mammal. Spermatozoa of the common wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus, displayed a unique morphological transformation resulting in cooperation in distinctive aggregations or 'trains' of hundreds or thousands of cells, which significantly increased sperm progressive motility. Eventual dispersal of sperm trains was associated with most of the spermatozoa undergoing a premature acrosome reaction. Cells undergoing an acrosome reaction in aggregations remote from the egg are altruistic in that they help sperm transport to the egg but compromise their own fertilizing ability. |
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Authors:
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Harry Moore; Katerina Dvoráková; Nicholas Jenkins; William Breed |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Nature Volume: 418 ISSN: 0028-0836 ISO Abbreviation: Nature Publication Date: 2002 Jul |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2002-07-11 Completed Date: 2002-07-31 Revised Date: 2006-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0410462 Medline TA: Nature Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 174-7 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Section of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, University of Sheffield, S10 2UH, UK. h.d.moore@shef.ac.uk |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Acrosome Reaction
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physiology* Altruism Animals Cell Aggregation / physiology Cell Size Female Male Mice Models, Biological Sperm Head / physiology Sperm Motility / physiology* Spermatozoa / cytology*, physiology* |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment In:
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Nature. 2002 Jul 11;418(6894):137
[PMID:
12110872
]
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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