idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instanz:
Teilen: 
24.05.2024 12:41

New findings on fertility: Sperm can adapt to sexually transmitted microbes

Nicole Gierig Pressestelle
Technische Universität Dresden

    Researchers from Dresden University of Technology (TUD) and the University of Sheffield have discovered that male fertility can adapt to microbes. These finding shed new light on the importance of sperm ecology and might have significant implications for evolutionary biology and medical research, particularly in understanding and treating infertility. The work has now been published in the journal “Evolution Letters”.

    Sperm is said to be the morphologically most diverse cell on Earth. This form of fast evolution has been believed to arise from the competition between males for the best sperm. Now, researchers from TUD and the University of Sheffield (UK) have discovered that the function of sperm, technically called male fertility, adapts to sexually transmitted microbes.

    The study was carried out in an insect species, the notorious bed bug. “This species was a model that we could handle very well but we think the results will be similar in humans” explains Dr. Oliver Otti from TUD who led the study. By exposing sperm to microbes within females, the researchers found that fertility is reduced by 1/5th when sperm and microbes had no prior contact. However, fertility remained unaffected when sperm and microbes were familiar with each other. “Some microbes are known to damage sperm and so reduce fertility but this study is the first to show that sperm adapt to them”, states Oliver Otti. “We were expecting a small effect”, adds Klaus Reinhardt, Professor of Applied Zoology at TUD, “but that sperm function was reduced by more than a fifth, was really surprising”.

    “Perhaps our results can explain why some studies find no effect of microbes on human male fertility but others do – the studies may differ in whether sperm and microbes have a joint evolutionary history or not.” These new findings might have a significant impact for evolutionary biology and medical research, particularly in understanding and treating infertility.


    Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

    Dr Oliver Otti
    Applied Zoology
    TU Dresden
    E-Mail: oliver.otti@tu-dresden.de
    Tel.: +49351 463 35347


    Originalpublikation:

    Oliver Otti, Natacha Rossel, Klaus Reinhardt, Semen adaptation to microbes in an insect, Evolution Letters, 2024;, qrae021, https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrae021


    Bilder

    Copulating bedbugs
    Copulating bedbugs

    Richard Naylor/CimexStore


    Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
    Journalisten
    Biologie, Medizin
    überregional
    Forschungsergebnisse, Forschungsprojekte
    Englisch


     

    Copulating bedbugs


    Zum Download

    x

    Hilfe

    Die Suche / Erweiterte Suche im idw-Archiv
    Verknüpfungen

    Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.

    Klammern

    Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).

    Wortgruppen

    Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.

    Auswahlkriterien

    Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).

    Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).