Secretions of male accessory glands contain a variety of bioactive molecules. When transferred during mating, these molecules exert wide-ranging effects on female reproductive activity and they improve the male's chances of siring a significant proportion of the female's offspring. The accessory gland secretions may affect virtually all aspects of the female's reproductive activity. The secretions may render her unwilling or unable to remate for some time, facilitating sperm storage and ensuring that any eggs laid will be fertilized by that male's sperm. They may stimulate an increase in the number and rate of development of eggs and modulate ovulation and/or oviposition. Antimicrobial agents in the secretions ensure that the female reproductive tract is a hospitable environment during sperm transfer. In a few species the secretions include noxious chemicals. These are sequestered by developing eggs that are thereby protected from predators and pathogens when laid.

Male accessory gland secretions: modulators of female reproductive physiology and behavior.

Mating in many species induces a dramatic switch in female reproductive behaviour. In most insects, this switch is triggered by factors present in the male's seminal fluid. How these factors exert such profound effects in females is unknown. Here we identify a receptor for the Drosophila melanogaster sex peptide (SP, also known as Acp70A), the primary trigger of post-mating responses in this species. Females that lack the sex peptide receptor (SPR, also known as CG16752), either entirely or only in the nervous system, fail to respond to SP and continue to show virgin behaviours even after mating. SPR is expressed in the female's reproductive tract and central nervous system. The behavioural functions of SPR map to the subset of neurons that also express the fruitless gene, a key determinant of sex-specific reproductive behaviour. SPR is highly conserved across insects, opening up the prospect of new strategies to control the reproductive and host-seeking behaviours of agricultural pests and human disease vectors.

A receptor that mediates the post-mating switch in Drosophila reproductive behaviour.

Mating affects the reproductive behaviour of insect females: the egg-laying rate increases and courting males are rejected. These post-mating responses are induced mainly by seminal fluid. In Drosophila melanogaster, males transfer two peptides (sex-peptides, = Sps) that reduce receptivity and elicit increased egg laying in their mating partners. Similarities in the open reading frames of the genes suggest that they have arisen by gene duplication. In females, Sps bind to specific sites in the central and peripheral nervous system, and to the genital tract. The binding proteins of the nervous system and genital tract are membrane proteins, but they differ molecularly. The former protein is proposed to be a receptor located at the top of a signalling cascade leading to the two post-mating responses, whereas the latter is a carrier protein moving Sps from the genital tract into the haemolymph. Sps bind to sperm. Together with sperm they are responsible for the persistence of the two post-mating responses. But Sps are the molecular basis of the sperm effect; sperm is merely the carrier.

Sex-peptides: seminal peptides of the Drosophila male.

https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(08)01093-3.pdf

Control of the Postmating Behavioral Switch in Drosophila Females by Internal Sensory Neurons

Little is known about physiological mechanisms that underlie the cost of reproduction. We tested the hypothesis that stress susceptibility is a cost of reproduction. In one test of our hypothesis, Drosophila melanogaster females were exposed to a juvenile hormone analog (methoprene) to stimulate egg production followed by stress assays. A sterile stock of D. melanogaster was employed as a control for reproduction. Exposure of fertile females to methoprene resulted in an increase in female reproduction and increased susceptibility to oxidative stress and starvation (compared to solvent controls). Sterile females did not exhibit a decrease in stress resistance. Mating also stimulated egg production. As a second test of our hypothesis, mated females were compared to virgin females. Mated fertile females were relatively susceptible to oxidative stress, but this relationship was not evident when mated and virgin sterile females were compared. The results of the present study support the hypothesis that stress susceptibility is a cost of reproduction.

/pdf/a-cost-of-reproduction-in-drosophila-melanogaster-stress-3uv2e86vud.pdf

A cost of reproduction in Drosophila melanogaster: stress susceptibility.

Lack of response to sex-peptide results in increased cost of mating in dunce Drosophila melanogaster females

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Lack of response to sex-peptide results in increased cost of mating in dunce Drosophila melanogaster females