Female reproductive fluid composition differs based on mating system in
Peromyscus mice
Abstract
Post-copulatory sexual selection is theorized to favor female traits
that allow them to control sperm use and fertilization, leading to the
prediction that female reproductive traits that influence sperm
migration should differ between polyandrous and monogamous species. Here
we exploit natural variation in the female mating strategies of closely
related Peromyscus mice to compare female traits that influence sperm
motility – the viscosity, pH, and calcium concentration ¬of fluids in
the reproductive tract – between polyandrous and monogamous species. We
find that the viscosity and pH, but not calcium concentration, of fluids
collected from both the uterus and the oviduct significantly differ
between species based on mating system. Our results demonstrate the
existence of a viscosity gradient within the female reproductive tract
that increases in monogamous species but decreases in polyandrous
species. Both species have a more alkaline environment in the uterus
than oviduct, but only in the polyandrous species did we observe a
decrease in calcium in the distal end of the tract. These results
suggest that fluid viscosity and pH in the female reproductive tracts of
these mice may be influenced by post-copulatory sexual selection and
provide a promising potential mechanism for female sperm control given
their importance in modulating sperm behavior.