Chemical communication during mate recognition in the harpacticoid copepod Tigriopus japonicus.

摘要

In this dissertation, the role of contact chemoreception of surface glycoproteins in mate recognition, mate guarding, and spermatophore transfer in the marine harpacticoid Tigriopus japonicus Mori was investigated. Results suggest that male Tigriopus japonicus employ a complicated, plastic system to maximize reproductive potential. Females are deemed attractive or unattractive relative to other available females, probably through male sensing of chemicals on the body surface of females. These chemicals are species and sex-specific, acting as contact pheromones. N-acetyl glucosamine containing surface glycoproteins on the prosome and caudal ramus of juvenile females probably identify them to conspecific males through a complementary receptor concentrated at the distal segment of his antennules. Copepodites do not produce a soluble pheromone, but adults release a diffusible chemical indicative of their sex and mating status. This difference between copepodites and adults may reflect different selective pressures at various life stages.; Treatment of females with trypsin decreased their attractiveness for mate guarding without affecting swimming behavior. Monoclonal antibodies against trypsin-released CV female T. japonicus surface proteins were developed. One of these, 3F1, complemented an antigen that was species, sex and life-stage specific, and was effective in reducing mate guarding when bound to CV females. The antibody will allow purification of the surface glycoproteins through affinity chromatography, and discovery of its gene through screening of an expression library.