Effect of Male Accessory Gland Products on Egg Laying in Gastropod Molluscs

In internally fertilizing animals, seminal fluid is usually added to the spermatozoa, together forming the semen or ejaculate. Besides nourishing and activating sperm, the components in the seminal fluid can also influence female physiology to augment fertilization success of the sperm donor. While many studies have reported such effects in species with separate sexes, few studies have addressed this in simultaneously hermaphroditic animals. This video protocol presents a method to study effects of seminal fluid in gastropods, using a simultaneously hermaphroditic freshwater snail, the great pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, as model organism. While the procedure is shown using complete prostate gland extracts, individual components (i.e., proteins, peptides, and other compounds) of the seminal fluid can be tested in the same way. Effects of the receipt of ejaculate components on egg laying can be quantified in terms of frequency of egg laying and more subtle estimates of female reproductive performance such as egg numbers within each egg masses. Results show that seminal fluid proteins affect female reproductive output in this simultaneous hermaphrodite, highlighting their importance for sexual selection.