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Selection for the length of the spermatozoan midpiece in the mouse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

D. M. Woolley
D. M. Woolley
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.
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A subcellular dimension, the length of the spermatozoan midpiece, has been the subject of a two-way selection programme in mice. After thirteen generations of within-family selection the divergence between the selected lines amounted to 5·4 phenotypic standard deviations. The realized heritability was found to be 0·76 ± 0·02, dominance and commonenvironmental effects being apparently very small. The reality of the selection response was verified in measurements on live spermatozoa. Other measurements have shown that the change in the length of the midpiece has been independent of its width, and has occurred without a proportionate change in the length of the main-piece of the flagellum. An electron microscope study has shown that the selection has, in fact, brought about changes in the quantity of mitochondrial material in the sperm cells.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , December 1970 , pp. 261 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

References

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