Socially transferred materials: why and how to study them

Sanja Maria Hakala*, Haruna Fujioka, Katharina Gapp, Ornela De Gasperin, Eléonore Genzoni, Rebecca M. Kilner, Joris M. Koene, Barbara König, Timothy A. Linksvayer, Marie Pierre Meurville, Matteo A. Negroni, Hugo Palejowski, Stuart Wigby, Adria C. LeBoeuf

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalReview articleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

When biological material is transferred from one individual's body to another, as in ejaculate, eggs, and milk, secondary donor-produced molecules are often transferred along with the main cargo, and influence the physiology and fitness of the receiver. Both social and solitary animals exhibit such social transfers at certain life stages. The secondary, bioactive, and transfer-supporting components in socially transferred materials have evolved convergently to the point where they are used in applications across taxa and type of transfer. The composition of these materials is typically highly dynamic and context dependent, and their components drive the physiological and behavioral evolution of many taxa. Our establishment of the concept of socially transferred materials unifies this multidisciplinary topic and will benefit both theory and applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)446-458
Number of pages13
JournalTrends In Ecology and Evolution
Volume38
Issue number5
Early online date19 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Franziska Brenninger for the figure art, and all participants of the workshop ‘Evolution and impact of socially exchanged materials’ for discussions that shaped this work. A.C.L. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation ( PR00P3_179776 ), S.H. by the Finnish Cultural Foundation , K.G. by the Swiss National Science Foundation ( PR00P3_201543 ) and an SBFI-funded ERC starting grant, J.K. by the Dutch Research Council , R.K. by the Leverhulme Trust RPG-2018-232 , and S.W. by a BBSRC grant ( BB/V015249/1 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

  • allohormones
  • evolutionary transitions
  • metabolomics
  • microbiome
  • parental care
  • seminal fluid

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