Evolutionary change in testes tissue composition among experimental populations of house mice

Theory assumes that postcopulatory sexual selection favors increased investment in testes size because greater numbers of sperm within the ejaculate increase the chance of success in sperm competition, and larger testes are able to produce more sperm. However, changes in the organization of the test...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 848 - 855
Main Authors: Firman, Renée C., Garcia-Gonzalez, Francisco, Thyer, Evan, Wheeler, Samantha, Yamin, Zayaputeri, Yuan, Michael, Simmons, Leigh W.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2015
Society for the Study of Evolution
Oxford University Press
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal populations
Animal reproduction
Animals
Biological Evolution
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Competition
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Histology
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Mice
Organ Size
Population size
postcopulatory sexual selection
Rodents
Seminiferous tubules
Seminiferous Tubules - anatomy & histology
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Sexual selection
Sperm competition
Sperm Count
sperm production
Spermatozoa
Testes
Testis - anatomy & histology
testosterone production
Tissues
Histology
sperm competition
sperm production
testosterone production
postcopulatory sexual selection
ISSN:0014-3820, 1558-5646, 1558-5646
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Theory assumes that postcopulatory sexual selection favors increased investment in testes size because greater numbers of sperm within the ejaculate increase the chance of success in sperm competition, and larger testes are able to produce more sperm. However, changes in the organization of the testes tissue may also affect sperm production rates. Indeed, recent comparative analyses suggest that sperm competition selects for greater proportions of sperm-producing tissue within the testes. Here, we explicitly test this hypothesis using the powerful technique of experimental evolution. We allowed house mice (Mus domesticus) to evolve via monogamy or polygamy in six replicate populations across 24 generations. We then used histology and image analysis to quantify the proportion of sperm-producing tissue (seminiferous tubules) within the testes of males. Our results show that males that had evolved with sperm competition had testes with a higher proportion of seminiferous tubules compared with males that had evolved under monogamy. Previously, it had been shown that males from the polygamous populations produced greater numbers of sperm in the absence of changes in testes size. We thus provide evidence that sperm competition selects for an increase in the density of sperm-producing tissue, and consequently increased testicular efficiency.
Bibliography:UWA Animal Ethics Committee - No. 07/100/607
ark:/67375/WNG-LZFSTRKT-C
European Regional Development Fund - No. CGL2012-34685
Australian Research Council - No. RCF, FG-G, LWS
istex:C3F88469727D48624EEE0DF8DC118B020AA7E54C
ArticleID:EVO12603
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ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/evo.12603