Upon mating, regions of the female reproductive tract mature and alter their function [1-3], for example to facilitate storage of sperm or control the release of eggs [4-6]. The female's nervous system and neuromodulators play important roles in her responses to mating [7-13]. However, it is difficult to reconcile the reproductive tract's many changing but coordinated events with the small set ...

Understanding of the development of the reproductive organs is essential to the evaluation of abnormalities in sexual differentiation. Recent advances resulting from application of genetic, biochemical, and ultrastructural techniques have helped to clarify the mechanisms regulating gonadal and reproductive tract development. The present review considers the major processes of sexual differentia...

Sperm competition arises as a result of complex interactions among male and female factors. While the roles of some male factors are known, little is known of the molecules or mechanisms that underlie the female contribution to sperm competition. The genetic tools available for Drosophila allow us to identify, in an unbiased manner, candidate female genes that are critical for mediating sperm c...

Mating changes female reproductive behavior in profound ways. In Drosophila, the trigger for this behavioral switch is a small peptide called sex peptide (SP), which is transferred with the male seminal fluid during insemination. Two papers in this issue of Neuron (Häsemayer et al. and Yang et al.) show that SP inhibits a small set of internal sensory neurons in the female genital tract. These ...

Female ring doves secrete gonadotrophic hormone in response to courtship behaviour of the male. This investigation was concerned with the quantitative relationship between the courtship stimulation presented to females and the responses of their reproductive systems. In a first experiment the degree of female reproductive tract development was found to be correlated with the length of time of d...

Male ejaculates are often structurally complex, and this complexity is likely to influence key reproductive interactions between males and females. However, despite its potential evolutionary significance, the molecular underpinnings of ejaculate structural complexity have received little empirical attention. To address this knowledge gap, we sought to understand the biochemical and functional ...

congenital and acquired abnormalities of the reproductive tract of female sheep resulting in subfertility,infertility or sterility cannot easily be detected by routine clinical examination. morphopathologicalabnormalities of the reproductive tract of ewes were studied by examining a total of 739 genital tracts inabattoirs of fars province, iran. from these, the 648 non-pregnant genitalia were e...

Reproductive tract tumours, specifically leiomyoma, are commonly found in female rhinoceroses. Similar to humans, tumour growth in rhinoceroses is thought to be sex hormone dependent. Tumours can form and expand from the onset of ovarian activity at puberty until the cessation of sex-steroid influences at senescence. Extensive tumour growth results in infertility. The aim of this study was to d...

Congenital and acquired abnormalities of the reproductive tract of female sheep resulting in subfertility,infertility or sterility cannot easily be detected by routine clinical examination. Morphopathologicalabnormalities of the reproductive tract of ewes were studied by examining a total of 739 genital tracts inabattoirs of Fars province, Iran. From these, the 648 non-pregnant genitalia were e...

Drosophila melanogaster seminal fluid proteins stimulate sperm storage and egg laying in the mated female but also cause a reduction in her life span. We report here that of eight Drosophila seminal fluid proteins (Acps) and one non-Acp tested, only Acp62F is toxic when ectopically expressed. Toxicity to preadult male or female Drosophila occurs upon one exposure, whereas multiple exposures are...