title: Post-mating change in excretion by mated Drosophila melanogaster females is a long-term response that depends on sex peptide and sperm.
abstract: Drosophila seminal fluid proteins elicit physiological and behavioral changes in the female after mating. For example, the seminal protein sex peptide (SP) causes females to lay more eggs, reduce receptivity to re-mating, consume more food and produce more concentrated excreta upon mating. It has been reported that SP indirectly increases food consumption as a result of its stimulation of egg production, but its role in producing more concentrated excreta in the mated female was reported to be independent of egg production. Additionally, it has been shown that SP's effect on food consumption persists for several days after mating, while it is unknown whether this is true for its effect on excretion. SP can have both transient and long-term effects on mated females; the latter occur because of the peptide's binding to, and slow release from, sperm in the female. Here we used timed measures of excretion by female flies that had mated to males mutant in SP or in its regulators, to test the duration of SP's effect on excretion. We found that SP's effect on excretion persists for at least ~1 week after mating, and that this persistence requires that SP bind to and be released from sperm. Although these binding/release requirements of SP are similar to those for increased egg production (and consequent increased food intake) following mating, we find that the long-term change in excretion phenotype is only partially dependent on the presence of eggs in the female. Our data indicate that a change in intestinal transit is part of the long-term post-mating response elicited by the gradual release of sperm-bound SP in the female after mating, even though it is not fully dependent on other long-term responses elicited by SP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-2703, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Apger-McGlaughon
authors.forename: Mariana F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Wolfner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003307:Copulation; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit; D008297:Male; D052287:Oviparity; D010455:Peptides / Q000502:physiology*; D029589:Seminal Plasma Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D029589:Seminal Plasma Proteins
keywords: Drosophila melanogaster; Excretion; Feeding; Post-mating response; Sex peptide; Sperm
references.citation: PLoS Genet. 2007 Dec;3(12):e238
references.pmid: 18085830
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Aug 19;100(17):9929-33
references.pmid: 12897240
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Jul 22;275(1643):1675-83
references.pmid: 18430646
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2005 Feb 8;15(3):207-13
references.pmid: 15694303
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 8;106(36):15384-9
references.pmid: 19706411
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 1996 Jun 22;263(1371):755-9
references.pmid: 8763795
references.citation: Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 1996;32(3-4):363-74
references.pmid: 8756302
references.citation: Neuron. 2009 Feb 26;61(4):511-8
references.pmid: 19249272
references.citation: Genes Dev. 1987 Nov;1(9):913-23
references.pmid: 3428601
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Aug 19;100(17):9923-8
references.pmid: 12893873
references.citation: J Hered. 2009 Jul-Aug;100(4):399-410
references.pmid: 19349638
references.citation: Cell. 1985 Nov;43(1):97-104
references.pmid: 3935320
references.citation: Anim Behav. 1967 Apr-Jul;15(2):239-50
references.pmid: 6030948
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2010 Jun 8;20(11):1006-11
references.pmid: 20471266
references.citation: Neuron. 2009 Feb 26;61(4):519-26
references.pmid: 19249273
references.citation: Eur J Biochem. 1997 Feb 1;243(3):732-8
references.pmid: 9057839
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2010 Jun 8;20(11):1000-5
references.pmid: 20471268
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2006 Apr 4;16(7):692-6
references.pmid: 16581515
references.citation: Cell Metab. 2011 Jan 5;13(1):92-104
references.pmid: 21195352
references.citation: Annu Rev Entomol. 2011;56:21-40
references.pmid: 20868282