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 unde...

亲代抚育的高能量消耗需求，要求亲代将自身资源倾斜于现有子代的抚育支持，而非投入到额外后代的繁育中。然而，此类资源流动的精准调控机制至今仍未被充分解析。本研究针对一种展现双亲抚育（biparental care）行为的昆虫，首次全面解析了协调亲代抚育投入与交配行为的生理机制。我们发现，在当前子代亟需抚育的阶段，埋葬虫（burying beetles）雌虫会出现激素介导（hormone-mediated）的暂时性不孕；同时该暂时性不孕状态会通过信息素（pheromone）传递给雄虫，进而抑制雄虫的交配行为。激素与信息素系统的共享通路，保障了该抗求偶素（anti-aphrodisiac）信号的可靠性。雌虫的暂时性不孕与雄虫的性禁欲，共同保障了亲代资源向现有发育中子代的协同投入。因此，本研究有助于我们更深入地理解此类资源分配调控机制（原文未完）