Stallion semen quality depends on major histocompatibility complex matching to teaser mare.

Jeannerat, Elise; Marti, Eliane Isabelle; Berney, C; Janett, F; Bollwein, H; Sieme, H; Burger, Dominik; Wedekind, C (2018). Stallion semen quality depends on major histocompatibility complex matching to teaser mare. Molecular Ecology, 27(4), pp. 1025-1035. Wiley-Blackwell 10.1111/mec.14490

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The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has repeatedly been found to influence mate choice of vertebrates, with MHC-dissimilar mates typically being preferred over MHC-similar mates. We used horses (Equus caballus) to test whether MHC matching also affects male investment into ejaculates after short exposure to a female. Semen characteristics varied much among stallions. Controlling for this variance with a full-factorial within-subject experimental design, we found that a short exposure to an MHC-dissimilar mare enhanced male plasma testosterone and led to ejaculates with elevated sperm numbers as compared to exposure to an MHC-similar mare. Sperm velocity seemed not affected by the treatment. Overall genetic similarity between stallions and mares (determined from polymorphic microsatellites on 20 different chromosomes) played no significant role here. The MHC type of the teaser mare also affected characteristics of cold-stored sperm after 24 and 48 hr. As expected from ejaculate economics, sperm viability was elevated after exposure to an MHC-dissimilar mare. However, oxidative stress and the percentage of sperm with a high DNA fragmentation were mostly increased after exposure to an MHC-dissimilar mare, depending also on whether the teaser mare was in oestrous or not. We conclude that males can quickly adjust ejaculate quality relative to a female's MHC, and that this male reaction to the social environment can also affect important characteristics of cold-stored semen.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Veterinary Public Health / Herd Health Management
05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Host-Pathogen Interaction
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (DKV) > ISME Equine Clinic Bern > ISME Equine Clinic, Internal medicine
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine (DKV)
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Experimental Clinical Research
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH)

UniBE Contributor:

Jeannerat, Elise, Marti, Eliane Isabelle, Burger, Dominik Cyrill

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0962-1083

Publisher:

Wiley-Blackwell

Language:

English

Submitter:

Andrea Gassmann-Suter

Date Deposited:

13 May 2019 12:09

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:31

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/mec.14490

PubMed ID:

29334412

Uncontrolled Keywords:

life history male reproductive strategy oxidative stress semen characteristics sperm competition

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.125694

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/125694

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