Female flies change on the molecular level when they mate. A University of Arizona study looked into what happens, and why humans should care.
UA professor Luciano Matzkin has studied the reproductive process of certain flies for years. A previous study by his team showed that in addition to sperm, male flies transfer RNA molecules to females when mating.
Now in his new study, Matzkin was able to observe RNA’s importance. Those molecules are converted into proteins and become an integral part of the normal reproductive process.
“This provides insight into potential new modes of investigation to try to understand, either to increase fertilization success in agricultural animals, or solve problems of infertility in humans," Matzkin said.
Matzkin experimented by removing the male fly’s ability to transfer RNA, leaving the female nothing to convert into proteins.
“And what we see in the absence of these proteins, there are deficiencies in the normal reproduction, normal fertilization process that occurs in the system," Matzkin said.
More research is needed but Matzkin says this offers insight into how males and females continue to biologically communicate post-mating. He says RNA transfer happens in other species all the way up to humans. Suggesting RNA may prove important beyond the flies.
