Abdominal-B regulates the male seminal fluid transferome and new fecundity factors required for sperm sex peptide binding
- 1Department for Neuroscience and Movement Science, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- 2Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Abstract
Seminal fluid proteins determine reproductive success in a wide range of animals. In the Drosophila male accessory gland, seminal fluid is mainly produced by two cell types, a majority of main cells and a small number of secondary cells that possess a specialized secretory apparatus with unusually enlarged dense core granule vesicles. Loss of Abdominal-B expression from secondary cells in the enhancer mutant iab-6cocu disrupts their transcriptional and secretory identity. Consequently, mutant males fail to induce the long-term post-mating response in females, which is characterized by a loss of receptivity and sustained egg laying. Here, we determine how secondary cells shape the seminal transferome and the female response by assessing iab-6cocu male accessory gland and female mate reproductive tract proteomes. We find downregulation of seminal fluid proteins that constitute a signaling network enabling sperm binding and the sustained action of the key regulator Sex Peptide. We identify two new Sex Peptide network proteins crucial for female fecundity, Cornutus (CG1701) and Hanrej (CG42564). Cornutus is required for mating dependent dense core granule vesicle release, providing a link between the products of these compartments and the female long-term post-mating response. Our data highlights the importance of secondary cell signaling and secretion for overall seminal fluid composition and Sex Peptide network function as well as the interdependence of main and secondary cells and their secretory products, advancing the general understanding of how seminal fluid signaling pathways modulate female physiology, sperm use and offspring production. Author summary: During copulation, sperm is transferred together with seminal fluid, which is crucial for protection, nutrition and modification of sperm as well as for providing signals to the female reproductive tract. A complex mixture of secreted seminal fluid proteins is required for functional seminal fluid. We use the Drosophila model to understand how different cell types in the male accessory gland, the fly’s equivalent of the prostate, cooperate in the production and transmission of seminal fluid that supports full fecundity and changes of female physiology after mating. We show that modification of the secretory identity of a small cell population in the gland, the specialized secondary cells, upon loss of expression of the transcription factor Abdominal B leads to substantial changes in the protein profile transferred to females. Among proteins downregulated, we characterize two new male factors, Cornutus and Hanrej, that are required for the binding of Sex Peptide, a key seminal fluid signal molecule, to sperm in the female storage organs and for sustained egg production and suppression of remating.
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BibTeX
@article{steck2026abdominalb,
title = {{Abdominal-B regulates the male seminal fluid transferome and new fecundity factors required for sperm sex peptide binding}},
author = {Kathrin Steck and Lina Verbakel and Peter Kerwin and Vladimir Trajanovikj and Katarzyna Kjøge and Jan J. Enghild and Anne C. von Philipsborn},
journal = {PLOS Genetics},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1012298},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1012298},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Abdominal-B regulates the male seminal fluid transferome and new fecundity factors required for sperm sex peptide binding
AU - Kathrin Steck
AU - Lina Verbakel
AU - Peter Kerwin
AU - Vladimir Trajanovikj
AU - Katarzyna Kjøge
AU - Jan J. Enghild
AU - Anne C. von Philipsborn
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - PLOS Genetics
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1012298
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1012298
AB - Seminal fluid proteins determine reproductive success in a wide range of animals. In the Drosophila male accessory gland, seminal fluid is mainly produced by two cell types, a majority of main cells and a small number of secondary cells that possess a specialized secretory apparatus with unusually enlarged dense core granule vesicles. Loss of Abdominal-B expression from secondary cells in the enhancer mutant iab-6cocu disrupts their transcriptional and secretory identity. Consequently, mutant males fail to induce the long-term post-mating response in females, which is characterized by a loss of receptivity and sustained egg laying. Here, we determine how secondary cells shape the seminal transferome and the female response by assessing iab-6cocu male accessory gland and female mate reproductive tract proteomes. We find downregulation of seminal fluid proteins that constitute a signaling network enabling sperm binding and the sustained action of the key regulator Sex Peptide. We identify two new Sex Peptide network proteins crucial for female fecundity, Cornutus (CG1701) and Hanrej (CG42564). Cornutus is required for mating dependent dense core granule vesicle release, providing a link between the products of these compartments and the female long-term post-mating response. Our data highlights the importance of secondary cell signaling and secretion for overall seminal fluid composition and Sex Peptide network function as well as the interdependence of main and secondary cells and their secretory products, advancing the general understanding of how seminal fluid signaling pathways modulate female physiology, sperm use and offspring production. Author summary: During copulation, sperm is transferred together with seminal fluid, which is crucial for protection, nutrition and modification of sperm as well as for providing signals to the female reproductive tract. A complex mixture of secreted seminal fluid proteins is required for functional seminal fluid. We use the Drosophila model to understand how different cell types in the male accessory gland, the fly’s equivalent of the prostate, cooperate in the production and transmission of seminal fluid that supports full fecundity and changes of female physiology after mating. We show that modification of the secretory identity of a small cell population in the gland, the specialized secondary cells, upon loss of expression of the transcription factor Abdominal B leads to substantial changes in the protein profile transferred to females. Among proteins downregulated, we characterize two new male factors, Cornutus and Hanrej, that are required for the binding of Sex Peptide, a key seminal fluid signal molecule, to sperm in the female storage organs and for sustained egg production and suppression of remating.
SN - 1553-7404
ER -