In natural fertilisation, the female reproductive tract allows only a strictly selected sperm subpopulation to proceed in the vicinity of an unfertilised oocyte. Female-mediated sperm selection (also known as cryptic female choice (CFC)) is far from a random process, which frequently biases paternity towards particular males over others. Earlier studies have shown that CFC is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the animal kingdom and often promotes assortative fertilisation between genetically compatible mates. Here, I demonstrate that CFC for genetic compatibility likely also occurs in humans and is mediated by a complex network of interacting male and female genes. I also show that the relative contribution of genetic compatibility (i.e. the male–female interaction effect) to reproductive success is generally high and frequently outweighs the effects of individual males and females. Together, these facts indicate that, along with male- and female-dependent pathological factors, reproductive failure can also result from gamete-level incompatibility of the reproductive partners. Therefore, I argue that a deeper understanding of these evolutionary mechanisms of sperm selection can pave the way towards a more inclusive view of infertility and open novel possibilities for the development of more personalised infertility diagnostics and treatments.

中文翻译：

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生殖伴侣的遗传不相容：不育症的进化观点

在自然受精中，女性生殖道只允许严格选择的精子亚群在未受精的卵母细胞附近进行。女性介导的精子选择（也称为隐秘女性选择（CFC））远不是一个随机过程，它经常偏向特定男性而不是其他男性。早期的研究表明，CFC 在动物界是一种普遍存在的现象，并且经常促进遗传相容的配偶之间的选择受精。在这里，我证明了用于遗传相容性的 CFC 可能也发生在人类中，并且由相互作用的男性和女性基因的复杂网络介导。我还表明遗传相容性的相对贡献（即 雄性-雌性相互作用效应）对繁殖成功的影响通常很高，并且经常超过个体男性和女性的影响。总之，这些事实表明，除了依赖男性和女性的病理因素外，生殖失败也可能是由于生殖伴侣的配子水平不相容造成的。因此，我认为，对精子选择的这些进化机制的更深入了解可以为更包容的不孕症观点铺平道路，并为开发更个性化的不孕症诊断和治疗开辟新的可能性。