Despite Mating Widely, Females Can Control Sperm To Choose The Best Dad

University of Exeter researchers have found new evidence to explain how female insects can influence the father of their offspring, even after mating with up to ten males.

University of Exeter researchers have been able to study how female insects can influence the choice of the father of their offspring, even after mating with up to ten males.

In the study, boffins found that female crickets are able to control the amount of sperm that they store from each mate to select the best father for their young.

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According to researchers, the females may be using their abdominal muscles to control the amount of sperm stored from each mate.

The study has been published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

Female crickets mate with several different males, including their closest relatives. In general, offspring produced with close relatives are more likely to have genetic disorders.

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Different animals employ a range of behaviours to avoid this, such as not mating other animals from the group they grow up in. Crickets do not avoid mating with relatives, but this research shows that they produce more offspring fathered by males that are unrelated to them.

In order to reach the conclusion, researchers bred field crickets in the laboratory. They used new DNA-based techniques to determine the quantity stored by each the female.

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They found that the females stored a higher content of sperm from unrelated males. They then tested young crickets to determine their paternity.

The results showed that, regardless of the order in which they had mated, an unrelated mate was more likely to become a father. This must have been under female control, because the methods the team used meant that males could not influence the amount of sperm they passed to the female.

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Though the study focused on field crickets, the findings are likely to be relevant in other insect species and possibly other sections of the animal kingdom.

Lead author Dr Amanda Bretman of the University of Exeter said: "Our study shows that even after mating, female insects control who fathers their offspring. We're only really just beginning to understand the reasons for the different mating strategies in the insect world and that is thanks to new techniques."

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