Temporal expression profile of an accessory-gland protein that is transferred via the seminal fluid of the simultaneous hermaphrodite Lymnaea stagnalis

Elferra M Swart, Angus Davison, Jacintha Ellers, Riccardo R Filangieri, Daniel J Jackson, Janine Mariën, Isabelle B C van der Ouderaa, Dick Roelofs, Joris M Koene

    Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    Male accessory-gland proteins are known to affect female physiology in multiple ways, maximizing a male’s reproductive success—often at a cost to the female. Due to this inherent sexual conflict, accessory gland proteins (ACPs) are generally studied in separate-sex organisms. While ACPs have also been identified in simultaneous hermaphrodites as an important part of post-copulatory sexual selection processes, their study has lagged behind that of ACPs in organisms with separate sexes. In the great pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, an ACP affecting egg laying, ovipostatin, is produced in the prostate gland. Based on the published partial Ovipostatin gene sequence, we now provide the complete mRNA and gene sequences, and confirm that gene expression is prostate gland-specific. More importantly we observed a significant increase in Ovipostatin expression in sperm donors after ejaculation. Ovipostatin gene expression did not differ between donors giving their ejaculate first (primary donors) and those donating an ejaculate after having been inseminated (secondary donors). These observations support a role for ovipostatin in reproduction and highlight the importance of standardizing the time point when measuring expression levels of ACPs.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbereyz005
    Pages (from-to)177-183
    Number of pages7
    JournalJournal of Molluscan Studies
    Volume85
    Issue number2
    Early online date26 Mar 2019
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2019

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