C.  elegans males optimize mate-preference decisions via sex-specific responses to multimodal sensory cues

Curr Biol. 2024 Mar 7:S0960-9822(24)00178-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.036. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTFor sexually reproducing animals, selecting optimal mates is important for maximizing reproductive fitness. In the nematode C. elegans, populations reproduce largely by hermaphrodite self-fertilization, but the cross-fertilization of hermaphrodites by males also occurs. Males' ability to recognize hermaphrodites involves several sensory cues, but an integrated view of the ways males use these cues in their native context to assess characteristics of potential mates has been elusive. Here, we examine the mate-preference behavior of C. elegans males evoked by natively produced cues. We find that males use a combination of volatile sex pheromones (VSPs), ascaroside sex pheromones, surface-associated cues, and other signals to assess multiple features of potential mates. Specific aspects of mate preference are communicated by distinct signals: developmental stage and sex are signaled by ascaroside pheromones and surface cues, whereas the presence of a self-sperm-depleted hermaphrodite is likely signaled by VSPs. Furthermore, males prefer to interact with virgin over mated, and well-fed over food-deprived, hermaphrodites; these preferences are likely adaptive and are also mediated by ascarosides and other cues. Sex-typical mate-preference behavior depends on the sexual state of the nervous system, such that pan-neuronal genetic masculinization in hermaphrodites generates male...

Source: Current Biology - March 12, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Jintao Luo Chance Bainbridge Renee M Miller Arantza Barrios Douglas S Portman Source Type: research