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Brooding fathers, not siblings, take up nutrients from embryos.

Gry Sagebakken¹, Ingrid Ahnesjö, Kenyon B Mobley

¹Department of Zoology, University of Gothenburg, , Box 463, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden. gry.sagebakken@zool.gu.se

Proceedings. Biological Sciences

|November 27, 2009

Summary

In a novel study on pipefish, male parents absorb nutrients from developing embryos within their brood pouch. This finding reveals a unique bidirectional nutrient transfer, challenging previous assumptions about parental care.

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Area of Science:

Reproductive Biology
Animal Physiology
Evolutionary Biology

Background:

Parental care often involves nutrient provision to developing embryos.
The fate of nutrients from resorbing embryos during gestation is largely unknown.
In pipefish (Syngnathus typhle), males brood fertilized eggs, and embryo reduction occurs during brooding.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate nutrient transfer direction between embryos and brooding males in pipefish.
To determine if nutrients from resorbing embryos are absorbed by the brooding male or surviving siblings.
To elucidate the physiological mechanisms of nutrient exchange in paternal care systems.

Main Methods:

Utilized radioactively labeled amino acids ((14)C) to trace nutrient movement.
Mated male pipefish to females, with half the eggs in the brood pouch being labeled.
Analyzed nutrient uptake in the male's brood pouch, liver, and muscle tissue, as well as in sibling embryos.

Main Results:

Radioactive carbon ((14)C) was detected in the male's brood pouch, liver, and muscle.
No significant uptake of labeled nutrients was observed in non-labeled sibling embryos.
Evidence strongly supports nutrient transfer from embryos to the brooding male parent.

Conclusions:

Pipefish males absorb nutrients from their developing embryos via the brood pouch.
This study demonstrates, for the first time, embryonic-to-paternal nutrient transfer in this species.
Findings reveal a complex bidirectional nutrient exchange system in paternal care.