Defective transfer of seminal-fluid materials during matings of semi-fertile fruitless mutants in Drosophila

In context of the semi-sterility exhibited by Drosophila males expressing certain mating-enabling fruitless (fru) mutant genotypes, we examined the transfer of seminal fluid using a transgene that encodes the Sex Peptide (SP) oligopeptide fused to Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). We found that this fusion construct expresses SP-GFP in a valid manner within accessory glands of the male reproductive system in normal and fru-mutant males. Transfer of SP-GFP to live females was readily detectable during and after copulation. With respect to the pertinent combinations of fru mutations, we demonstrated that these abnormal genotypes cause males to transmit mating-related materials in two aberrant ways: one involving whether any seminal-fluid entities are transferred at all during a given mating; the other revealing an intriguing aspect of these fruitless effects, such that the mutations in question cause males to transfer female-affecting materials in a manner that varies among copulations. In this regard, certain mutant males that do not transfer SP nevertheless are able to transfer sperm: a fru-mated female possessing no GFP who was not fecund initially could produce progeny when seminal-fluid proteins were subsequently supplied by mating with a male that was spermless owing to the effects of a tudor mutation.