[Q] sperm competition

[Alexander Berezin]

Not pretending to give you any answers about "sperm
killer cells", here is one reference which just
appeared in a review section of American Scientist
(Sept-Oct.1995,  p. 486):
  David M. Buss, The Evolution of Desire:
  Strategies of Human Mating, Basic Books, 1994.
( D.M. Bass is Prof.of Psychology,
 Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor). 
 Perhaps he can answer you question better.

Good luck,
Alex Berezin    


On Tue, 29 Aug 1995, Andreas Rose t3077 wrote:

> Some time ago I saw a television report that offered some statements that I 
> find hard to believe. The report was about human sex. 
> 
> It described that in human sperm, there were three sorts of sperm cells: 
> first the ordinary ones. 
> Then some that would actually block sperm from other men having sex with the 
> same woman after the first intercourse.  These sperm cells looked like a 
> little s, and stouter and shorter than ordinary cells. These blockers were 
> supposed to form sort of a barrier that would keep sperm from competing males 
> from entering the uterus.
> The third sort of sperm were 'aggressive' cells that would actually attack 
> sperm from other men, and of course only that. They actually showed pictures 
> of one cell tackeling another cell, thrusting its tip into the side of the 
> other to actually kill it, as they said in the comment.
> 
> The reporter also said that the percentage of blockers and aggressive sprem 
> cells in the sperm was higher in jealous males.
> 
> I have never heard of this. How much of it can I buy? Does anybody know of 
> any literature or papers on the subject?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> --<--@ (a rose)
> 
> andreas.rose at biologie.uni-regensburg.de
> 
>