MSGID: 1:317/3 64226d62   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Bomb-sniffing rodents undergo 'unusual' reproductive transformations   
      
      
     Date:   
         March 27, 2023   
     Source:   
         Cornell University   
     Summary:   
         Female giant African pouched rats, used for sniffing out landmines   
         and detecting tuberculosis, can undergo astounding reproductive   
         organ transformations, according to a new study.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Female giant African pouched rats, used for sniffing out landmines   
   and detecting tuberculosis, can undergo astounding reproductive organ   
   transformations, according to a new study.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   The paper, "Extreme plasticity of reproductive state in a female rodent,"   
   which published March 27 in Current Biology,explores how traits once   
   considered "fixed" in adult animals may become variable under specific   
   pressures.   
      
   Though these rodents could have important military, biodetection and   
   humanitarian uses, breeding them at high rates has been a challenge. The   
   study's findings are a step toward understanding their reproductive   
   biology, and possibly breeding them more effectively -- and may even   
   have broader implications for other mammals struggling to reproduce.   
      
   "The more we start to understand the full scope of the reproductive   
   process, the more we can start to get insight into those sorts of   
   questions," said Alex Ophir, associate professor of psychology at Cornell   
   University and the study's senior author. "The more examples of other   
   mammals we get, the better, and these unusual examples can sometimes   
   reveal a lot about women's health and reproductive health."  While other   
   species are known to undergo reproductive suppression -- such as animals   
   who only mate in certain seasons -- most do this hormonally rather than   
   closing off their genitals as giant African pouched rats do. More study   
   is needed to understand why these rodents possess this unusual trait.   
      
   One hypothesis is that "dominant" female pouched rats might be sending   
   suppression signals to other females through pheromones, or scents in   
   their urine, that cause them to close up.   
      
   "You could interpret it as manipulation by one female to get other females   
   to stop reproducing, and in effect, they'll often in these cases, start   
   to contribute to the care of the dominant reproducing female," Ophir said.   
      
   Another theory could be tied to resource competition, where too many   
   offspring in a population limits available food resources, and reducing   
   the number of babies born to others could mean more resources for one's   
   own babies, Ophir said.   
      
   In future work, Ophir plans to continue investigating how the animals'   
   extraordinary olfactory systems work and hopes to learn more about their   
   unusual behaviors and anatomies.   
      
   "The fact that there is this naturally occurring ability to sort of change   
   reproductive morphology and physiology suggests that things are probably   
   a whole lot more plastic than we realize," Ophir said. "If nothing else,   
   it just provides another example that things aren't as dogmatically simple   
   as people think."  This study was funded by the Army Research Office.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Mating_and_Breeding # Animals # Behavioral_Science #   
                   Wild_Animals   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Geoengineering   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Tuberculosis o Biochemistry o African_Wild_Dog o Brown_Rat   
             o Mule o Giant_Panda o Marsupial o Giant_Otter   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Cornell_University. Original written   
   by Laura Gallup, courtesy of the Cornell Chronicle. Note: Content may   
   be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Angela R. Freeman, Danielle N. Lee, Jeremy J. Allen, Bryant   
      Blank, Dean   
         Jeffery, Assaf Lerer, Bhupinder Singh, Teresa Southard, Soon Hon   
         Cheong, Alexander G. Ophir. Extreme plasticity of reproductive   
         state in a female rodent. Current Biology, 2023; 33 (6): R215 DOI:   
         10.1016/ j.cub.2023.02.004   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230327163218.htm   
      
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