ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2020
Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evidence for genetically-based sperm discrimination in the vaginal tract of a primate species.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Thirty Years of the Biology of Spermatozoa: The Rise and Future of an Evolutionary Paradigm.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Sperm navigation in humans: a concerted action of multiple means.Communications biology · 2025Review
- Female-mediated selective sperm activation may remodel major histocompatibility complex-based mate choice decisions in humans.Heredity · 2025Article
- Silent cells? Potential for context-dependent gene expression in mature sperm.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Reproductive Tract Mucus May Influence the Sex of Offspring in Cattle: Study in Cows That Have Repeatedly Calved Single-Sex Offspring.Veterinary sciences · 2024Article
- Sperm performance in the race for fertilization, the influence of female reproductive fluid.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Solutions to the fertility equation in beef embryo recipients.Animal reproduction · 2024Review
- Spermbots and Their Applications in Assisted Reproduction: Current Progress and Future Perspectives.International journal of nanomedicine · 2024Review
- Female reproductive fluid and male seminal fluid: a non-gametic conflict for post-mating control.Biology letters · 2023Article
- The coevolutionary dynamics of cryptic female choice.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- Evolutionary Quantitative Proteomics of Reproductive Protein Divergence in Drosophila.Molecular & cellular proteomics : MCP · 2023Article
- Cryptic female choice within individual males - A neglected component of the postmating sexual selection?Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Review
- Genetically-biased fertilization in APOBEC1 complementation factor (A1cf) mutant mice.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Sperm Physiological Response to Female Serum-Potential New Insights into the Reproductive Incompatibility Diagnostics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Female-induced selective modification of sperm protein SUMOylation-potential mechanistic insights into the non-random fertilization in humans.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Article
- Genetic incompatibility of the reproductive partners: an evolutionary perspective on infertility.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Article
- Evolutionary consequences of environmental effects on gamete performance.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Oviductal fluid counterbalances the negative effect of high temperature on sperm in an ectotherm model.Biology open · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mate choice can continue after mating via chemical communication between the female reproductive system and sperm. While there is a growing appreciation that females can bias sperm use and paternity by exerting cryptic female choice for preferred males, we know surprisingly little about the mechanisms underlying these post-mating choices. In particular, whether chemical signals released from eggs (chemoattractants) allow females to exert cryptic female choice to favour sperm from specific males remains an open question, particularly in species (including humans) where adults exercise pre-mating mate choice. Here, we adapt a classic dichotomous mate choice assay to the microscopic scale to assess gamete-mediated mate choice in humans. We examined how sperm respond to follicular fluid, a source of human sperm chemoattractants, from either their partner or a non-partner female when experiencing a simultaneous or non-simultaneous choice between follicular fluids. We report robust evidence under these two distinct experimental conditions that follicular fluid from different females consistently and differentially attracts sperm from specific males. This chemoattractant-moderated choice of sperm offers eggs an avenue to exercise independent mate preference. Indeed, gamete-mediated mate choice did not reinforce pre-mating human mate choice decisions. Our results demonstrate that chemoattractants facilitate gamete-mediated mate choice in humans, which offers females the opportunity to exert cryptic female choice for sperm from specific males.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.