Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology. University of Manchester, UK.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2834-4409
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology.
Show others and affiliations
Number of Authors: 72020 (English)In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences, ISSN 0962-8452, E-ISSN 1471-2954, Vol. 287, no 1928, article id 20200805Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Mate choice can continue after mating via chemical communication between the female reproductive system and sperm. While there is a growing appreciation that females can bias sperm use and paternity by exerting cryptic female choice for preferred males, we know surprisingly little about the mechanisms underlying these post-mating choices. In particular, whether chemical signals released from eggs (chemoattractants) allow females to exert cryptic female choice to favour sperm from specific males remains an open question, particularly in species (including humans) where adults exercise pre-mating mate choice. Here, we adapt a classic dichotomous mate choice assay to the microscopic scale to assess gamete-mediated mate choice in humans. We examined how sperm respond to follicular fluid, a source of human sperm chemoattractants, from either their partner or a non-partner female when experiencing a simultaneous or non-simultaneous choice between follicular fluids. We report robust evidence under these two distinct experimental conditions that follicular fluid from different females consistently and differentially attracts sperm from specific males. This chemoattractant-moderated choice of sperm offers eggs an avenue to exercise independent mate preference. Indeed, gamete-mediated mate choice did not reinforce pre-mating human mate choice decisions. Our results demonstrate that chemoattractants facilitate gamete-mediated mate choice in humans, which offers females the opportunity to exert cryptic female choice for sperm from specific males.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 287, no 1928, article id 20200805
Keywords [en]
sperm chemotaxis, post-copulatory sexual selection, major histocompatibility complex, sperm competition, in vitrofertilization
National Category
Biological Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-183644DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0805ISI: 000543545100010PubMedID: 32517615OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-183644DiVA, id: diva2:1455698
Available from: 2020-07-28 Created: 2020-07-28 Last updated: 2022-03-23Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Authority records

Fitzpatrick, John L.Willis, CharlotteDevigili, Alessandro

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Fitzpatrick, John L.Willis, CharlotteDevigili, Alessandro
By organisation
Department of Zoology
In the same journal
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences
Biological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 926 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf