University of Tasmania
Browse
128898 - Effects of male telomeres on probability of paternity in sand lizards.pdf (363.04 kB)

Effects of male telomeres on probability of paternity in sand lizards

Download (363.04 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 22:04 authored by Pauliny, A, Miller, E, Rollings, N, Erik WapstraErik Wapstra, Blomqvist, D, Friesen, CR, Olsson, M
Standardized swim-up trials are used in in vitro fertilization clinics to select particularly motile spermatozoa in order to increase the probability of a successful fertilization. Such trials demonstrate that sperm with longer telomeres have higher motility and lower levels of DNA damage. Regardless of whether sperm motility, and successful swim-up to fertilization sites, is a direct or correlational effect of telomere length or DNA damage, covariation between telomere length and sperm performance predicts a relationship between telomere length and probability of paternity in sperm competition, a prediction that for ethical reasons cannot be tested on humans. Here, we test this prediction in sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) using experimental data from twice-mated females in a laboratory population, and telomere length in blood from the participating lizards. Female identity influenced paternity (while the mechanism was not identified), while relatively longer male telomeres predicted higher probability of paternity. We discuss potential mechanisms underpinning this result.

Funding

Australian Research Council

History

Publication title

Biology Letters

Volume

14

Issue

8

Article number

20180033

Number

20180033

Pagination

1-3

ISSN

1744-9561

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

The Royal Society Publishing

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2018 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC