DELAYED OUTCROSSING IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS BY MATING AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR

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dc.contributor.advisorAzevedo, Ricardo B. R.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCooper, Timothy F.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberCole, Blaine J.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWang, Meng
dc.creatorKoneru, Sneha L.
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-22T19:56:33Z
dc.date.available2016-03-22T19:56:33Z
dc.date.createdMay 2013
dc.date.issued2013-05
dc.date.updated2016-03-22T19:56:33Z
dc.description.abstractThe species Caenorhabditis elegans has a mating system of androdioecy, which consists of hermaphrodites and males. The evolutionary pressures on the two sexes are different. C. elegans hermaphrodites make self-sperm during larval development and therefore are self-fertile, whereas the males have to mate with hermaphrodites to reproduce. Behaviors that increase the reproductive success of each sex may evolve to maximize fitness. Prior studies indicate that self-sperm exhausted hermaphrodites are more receptive to mating while a recent study suggests that males have a preference for sperm-depleted hermaphrodites. These observed behaviors are confounded with receptivity of hermaphrodites, male preference, and the effects of age. In this study, I present mating assays that attempt to disentangle the effects of age, receptivity of hermaphrodite, and male preference on mating success. In the mating assays, a higher proportion of sperm-depleted hermaphrodites mate compared to hermaphrodites that have sperm. During their self-fertile period, hermaphrodites actively avoid mating with males by sprinting away, thus, delaying outcrossing by mating avoidance. Hermaphrodites that are paralyzed due to mutations in their genes do not show mating avoidance behavior. Therefore, mating avoidance is an active behavior of hermaphrodites, which requires locomotion. The velocities of older hermaphrodites that are sperm-depleted are significantly higher than velocities of young hermaphrodites that have sperm. Therefore, older hermaphrodites are capable of mating avoidance but do not avoid mating because they are sperm-depleted. I conclude that sperm-status of the hermaphrodite is a strong predictor of mating avoidance behavior. The sperm-sensing pathway of the hermaphrodites mediates the mating avoidance behavior by dynamically changing the behavior of hermaphrodites.
dc.description.departmentBiology and Biochemistry, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10657/1293
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectC. elegans
dc.subjectCaenorhabditis elegans
dc.subjectMating behavior
dc.subjectAndrodioecious
dc.subjectEvolution
dc.subjectHermaphrodites
dc.titleDELAYED OUTCROSSING IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS BY MATING AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
thesis.degree.departmentBiology and Biochemistry, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineBiology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science

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