{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T08:36:18Z","timestamp":1769589378227,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19K06911 and 22K06322"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19K06911 and 22K06322"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    In many sexually reproducing animals, females incur higher reproductive costs and therefore tend to be more selective in accepting mates. In\n                    <jats:italic>Caenorhabditis elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                    , self-fertilizing hermaphrodites produce a limited number of self-sperm, and previous studies have suggested that hermaphrodites avoid males. However, the behavioral dynamics of this male-avoidance behavior remain largely unexplored and its underlying mechanisms are not well-understood. Here, I quantitatively analyzed male-avoidance behavior in\n                    <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                    hermaphrodites by measuring locomotor speed in the presence of males. Automated image analysis revealed that wildtype hermaphrodites increased speed when in contact with males, indicating active avoidance behavior. In contrast, avoidance was significantly reduced in sperm-deficient mutant hermaphrodites and aged hermaphrodites that had exhausted self-sperm. Similarly, females of gonochoristic\n                    <jats:italic>Caenorhabditis<\/jats:italic>\n                    species, which lack self-sperm, also showed no avoidance of males. These results suggest that the presence of self-sperm promotes male avoidance, likely to favor self-fertilization. Interestingly, hermaphrodites that had previously mated with males showed reduced male avoidance. Given that male-derived sperm outcompete self-sperm for fertilization, continued avoidance after mating may be no longer advantageous for reproduction. These findings highlight the adaptive nature of sperm-dependent male avoidance in\n                    <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                    hermaphrodites.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0339893","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T18:35:56Z","timestamp":1769538956000},"page":"e0339893","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Mating suppresses sperm-dependent male avoidance in C. elegans hermaphrodites"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4469-0301","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Satoshi","family":"Suo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0339893.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"949781","DOI":"10.3389\/fncir.2022.949781","article-title":"Flexibility of neural circuits regulating mating behaviors in mice and flies","volume":"16","author":"T Karigo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Neural Circuits"},{"issue":"5903","key":"pone.0339893.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"904","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1159276","article-title":"Wired for sex: the neurobiology of Drosophila mating decisions","volume":"322","author":"BJ Dickson","year":"2008","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"pone.0339893.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cois.2017.08.005","article-title":"Neuronal modulation of D. melanogaster sexual behaviour","volume":"24","author":"BE Ellendersen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Curr Opin Insect Sci"},{"key":"pone.0339893.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1409349","DOI":"10.3389\/fncir.2024.1409349","article-title":"Hormonal and circuit mechanisms controlling female sexual behavior","volume":"18","author":"S Inoue","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Neural Circuits"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0339893.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"304","DOI":"10.1016\/0012-1606(79)90069-1","article-title":"Fertilization and sperm competition in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"73","author":"S Ward","year":"1979","journal-title":"Dev Biol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0339893.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1006\/anbe.1994.1221","article-title":"Copulatory plugs and paternity assurance in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"48","author":"DM Barker","year":"1994","journal-title":"Animal Behaviour"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0339893.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1339","DOI":"10.1016\/j.anbehav.2007.02.031","article-title":"Facultative decrease in mating resistance in hermaphroditic Caenorhabditis elegans with self-sperm depletion","volume":"74","author":"GA Kleemann","year":"2007","journal-title":"Animal Behaviour"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0339893.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1761","DOI":"10.1534\/genetics.106.068304","article-title":"Diversity in mating behavior of hermaphroditic and male-female Caenorhabditis nematodes","volume":"175","author":"LR Garcia","year":"2007","journal-title":"Genetics"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0339893.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1137","DOI":"10.1093\/jeb\/voae106","article-title":"Genital courtship and female-active roles in mating: sexual selection by mate choice in Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"37","author":"WG Eberhard","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Evol Biol"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0339893.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2024.01.050","article-title":"Evolution remodels olfactory and mating-receptive behaviors in the transition from female to hermaphrodite reproduction","volume":"34","author":"MS Ebert","year":"2024","journal-title":"Curr Biol"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0339893.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"817","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01922436","article-title":"Sperm precedence in a hermaphroditic nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans) is due to competitive superiority of male sperm","volume":"51","author":"CW LaMunyon","year":"1995","journal-title":"Experientia"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0339893.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1093\/genetics\/77.1.71","article-title":"The genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"77","author":"S Brenner","year":"1974","journal-title":"Genetics"},{"issue":"24","key":"pone.0339893.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4668","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.2985-18.2019","article-title":"Sexually Dimorphic Regulation of Behavioral States by Dopamine in Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"39","author":"S Suo","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Neurosci"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0339893.ref014","article-title":"Sperm function is required for suppressing locomotor activity of C. elegans hermaphrodites","volume":"19","author":"S Suo","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0339893.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1074","DOI":"10.1101\/gad.9.9.1074","article-title":"The Caenorhabditis elegans spe-26 gene is necessary to form spermatids and encodes a protein similar to the actin-associated proteins kelch and scruin","volume":"9","author":"JP Varkey","year":"1995","journal-title":"Genes Dev"},{"issue":"16","key":"pone.0339893.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6730","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0608050104","article-title":"The species, sex, and stage specificity of a Caenorhabditis sex pheromone","volume":"104","author":"JR Chasnov","year":"2007","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0339893.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4161\/worm.24448","article-title":"Virgin Caenorhabditis remanei females are attracted to a coital pheromone released by con-specific copulating males","volume":"2","author":"M Markert","year":"2013","journal-title":"Worm"},{"key":"pone.0339893.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2148-11-99","article-title":"Heritable determinants of male fertilization success in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"11","author":"RL Murray","year":"2011","journal-title":"BMC Evol Biol"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0339893.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"615","DOI":"10.1534\/genetics.119.302462","article-title":"Natural Variation and Genetic Determinants of Caenorhabditis elegans Sperm Size","volume":"213","author":"C Gimond","year":"2019","journal-title":"Genetics"}],"container-title":["PLOS 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