Data from: A hormone-related female anti-aphrodisiac signals temporary infertility and causes sexual abstinence to synchronize parental care

The high energetic demand of parental care requires parents to direct their resources towards the support of existing offspring rather than investing into the production of additional young. However, how such a resource flow is channelled appropriately is poorly understood. In this study, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of the physiological mechanisms coordinating parental and mating effort in an insect exhibiting biparental care. We show a hormone-mediated infertility in female burying beetles during the time the current offspring is needy and report that this temporary infertility is communicated via a pheromone to the male partner, where it inhibits copulation. A shared pathway of hormone and pheromone system ensures the reliability of the anti-aphrodisiac. Female infertility and male sexual abstinence provide for the concerted investment of parental resources into the existing developing young. Our study thus contributes to our deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptive parental decisions.

亲代抚育需消耗大量能量，这要求亲代将资源投向现有子代的抚育，而非投入额外的繁殖生产。然而，这类资源分配的精准调控机制至今仍未被充分阐明。本研究首次对具有双亲抚育（biparental care）行为的昆虫中，协调亲代抚育与交配投入的生理机制开展了全面解析。我们发现，在当前子代亟需抚育的阶段，埋葬甲（burying beetles）雌性会出现激素（hormone）介导的暂时性不孕；且该暂时性不孕会通过信息素（pheromone）传递给雄性伴侣，进而抑制其交配行为。激素与信息素系统共享的调控通路，保障了该反求偶信息素（anti-aphrodisiac）的信号可靠性。雌性不孕与雄性禁欲共同确保了亲代资源能够协同投入到当前正在发育的子代中。因此，本研究有助于我们更深入地理解适应性亲代决策背后的调控机制。