Abstract

Among a wide diversity of sexually reproducing species, male ejaculates coagulate to form what has been termed a copulatory plug. A number of functions have been attributed to copulatory plugs, including the inhibition of female remating and the promotion of ejaculate movement. Here we demonstrate that copulatory plugs also influence the likelihood of implantation, which occurs roughly 4 days after copulation in mice. Using a bead transfer method to control for differences in ejaculate retention and fertilization rates, we show that implantation rates significantly drop among females mated to genetically engineered males incapable of forming plugs (because they lack functional transglutaminase 4, the main enzyme responsible for its formation). Surprisingly, this result does not correlate with differences in circulating progesterone levels among females, an important hormone involved in implantation. We discuss three models that connect male-derived copulatory plugs to implantation success, including the hypothesis that plugs contribute to a threshold amount of stimulation required for females to become receptive to implantation.

中文翻译：

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雄性衍生的交配塞可提高雌性小家鼠的着床成功率

 抽象的

在各种各样的有性生殖物种中，雄性射精凝结形成所谓的交配塞。交配塞具有许多功能，包括抑制雌性再交配和促进射精运动。在这里，我们证明交配塞也会影响植入的可能性，植入发生在小鼠交配后大约 4 天。使用珠子转移方法来控制射精保留率和受精率的差异，我们发现，与无法形成栓塞的基因工程雄性交配的雌性的着床率显着下降（因为它们缺乏功能性转谷氨酰胺酶4，这是其形成的主要酶） 。令人惊讶的是，这一结果与女性循环黄体酮水平的差异无关，黄体酮是一种与着床有关的重要激素。我们讨论了将雄性衍生的交配塞与着床成功联系起来的三种模型，包括塞子有助于雌性接受植入所需的阈值刺激量的假设。