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Quan J, Song S, Xing L, Liu X, Yue M. DNA methylation variation and growth in the clonal Duchesnea indica is regulated by both past and present lead environments. Epigenetics 2024; 19:2305078. [PMID: 38245907 PMCID: PMC10802196 DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2024.2305078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Studies suggest that clonal plants' ability to select habitats and forage in a heterogeneous environment is influenced by their past environment, with stress legacy potentially playing a crucial role. In this study, we examined parental ramets of Duchesnea indica Focke that were subject to either a control or lead-contaminated environment (past environment), and their newborn offspring were then transplanted into control, homogeneous lead or heterogeneous lead environment (present environment). We analysed how past and present environments affect plant growth and DNA methylation in offspring. The result shown that the DNA methylation loci composition of offspring was affected by the interaction of parental environment and offspring environment, and DNA methylation levels were higher in heterogeneous environments. Moreover, our findings indicate that offspring would thrive in the heterogeneous lead environment if they did not experience lead pollution in the past, their progeny will avoid lead toxicity by reducing underground biomass allocation. However, when the parents experienced lead stress environment, their biomass allocation strategies disappeared, and they prefer to grow in favourable patches to avoid lead-contaminated patches. We concluded that the integration of historical parental exposure to lead-contaminated and current information about their offspring's environment are impacting plant phenotypes. It is possible that the stress legacy from the parents has been transmitted to their offspring ramets, and the stress legacy is at least partly based on heritable epigenetic variation. The phenotypic variation regulated by the stress legacy affects the growth performance, biomass allocation strategy, and even the behaviour of D. indica.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxin Quan
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
| | - Shanshan Song
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
| | - Linya Xing
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
| | - Xiao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
| | - Ming Yue
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
- Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province, Institute of Botany of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an, China
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Ramos-Muñoz M, Blanco-Sánchez M, Pías B, Escudero A, Matesanz S. Transgenerational plasticity to drought: contrasting patterns of non-genetic inheritance in two semi-arid Mediterranean shrubs. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2024; 134:101-116. [PMID: 38488820 PMCID: PMC11161564 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcae039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Intra- and transgenerational plasticity may provide substantial phenotypic variation to cope with environmental change. Since assessing the unique contribution of the maternal environment to the offspring phenotype is challenging in perennial, outcrossing plants, little is known about the evolutionary and ecological implications of transgenerational plasticity and its persistence over the life cycle in these species. We evaluated how intra- and transgenerational plasticity interplay to shape the adaptive responses to drought in two perennial Mediterranean shrubs. METHODS We used a novel common garden approach that reduced within-family genetic variation in both the maternal and offspring generations by growing the same maternal individual in two contrasting watering environments, well-watered and drought, in consecutive years. We then assessed phenotypic differences at the reproductive stage between offspring reciprocally grown in the same environments. KEY RESULTS Maternal drought had an effect on offspring performance only in Helianthemum squamatum. Offspring of drought-stressed plants showed more inflorescences, less sclerophyllous leaves and higher growth rates in both watering conditions, and heavier seeds under drought, than offspring of well-watered maternal plants. Maternal drought also induced similar plasticity patterns across maternal families, showing a general increase in seed mass in response to offspring drought, a pattern not observed in the offspring of well-watered plants. In contrast, both species expressed immediate adaptive plasticity, and the magnitude of intragenerational plasticity was larger than the transgenerational plastic responses. CONCLUSIONS Our results highlight that adaptive effects associated with maternal drought can persist beyond the seedling stage and provide evidence of species-level variation in the expression of transgenerational plasticity. Such differences between co-occurring Mediterranean species in the prevalence of this form of non-genetic inheritance may result in differential vulnerability to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Ramos-Muñoz
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Mario Blanco-Sánchez
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Beatriz Pías
- Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, C/José Antonio Nováis 2, 28040, Madrid, Spain
| | - Adrián Escudero
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Silvia Matesanz
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
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3
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de la Mata R, Mollá-Morales A, Méndez-Vigo B, Torres-Pérez R, Oliveros JC, Gómez R, Marcer A, Castilla AR, Nordborg M, Alonso-Blanco C, Picó FX. Variation and plasticity in life-history traits and fitness of wild Arabidopsis thaliana populations are not related to their genotypic and ecological diversity. BMC Ecol Evol 2024; 24:56. [PMID: 38702598 PMCID: PMC11067129 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02246-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite its implications for population dynamics and evolution, the relationship between genetic and phenotypic variation in wild populations remains unclear. Here, we estimated variation and plasticity in life-history traits and fitness of the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana in two common garden experiments that differed in environmental conditions. We used up to 306 maternal inbred lines from six Iberian populations characterized by low and high genotypic (based on whole-genome sequences) and ecological (vegetation type) diversity. RESULTS Low and high genotypic and ecological diversity was found in edge and core Iberian environments, respectively. Given that selection is expected to be stronger in edge environments and that ecological diversity may enhance both phenotypic variation and plasticity, we expected genotypic diversity to be positively associated with phenotypic variation and plasticity. However, maternal lines, irrespective of the genotypic and ecological diversity of their population of origin, exhibited a substantial amount of phenotypic variation and plasticity for all traits. Furthermore, all populations harbored maternal lines with canalization (robustness) or sensitivity in response to harsher environmental conditions in one of the two experiments. CONCLUSIONS Overall, we conclude that the environmental attributes of each population probably determine their genotypic diversity, but all populations maintain substantial phenotypic variation and plasticity for all traits, which represents an asset to endure in changing environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raul de la Mata
- Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Sevilla, 41092, Spain
- Faculty of Forestry, Institute of Dehesa Research (INDEHESA), Universidad de Extremadura, 10600, Plasencia, Spain
| | | | - Belén Méndez-Vigo
- Departamento de Genética Molecular de Plantas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rafael Torres-Pérez
- Departamento de Genética Molecular de Plantas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Oliveros
- Departamento de Genética Molecular de Plantas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rocío Gómez
- Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Sevilla, 41092, Spain
| | - Arnald Marcer
- CREAF, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Catalonia, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Antonio R Castilla
- Department of Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078-3031, USA
| | - Magnus Nordborg
- Gregor Mendel Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030, Vienna, Austria
| | - Carlos Alonso-Blanco
- Departamento de Genética Molecular de Plantas, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - F Xavier Picó
- Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Sevilla, 41092, Spain.
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Bonzi LC, Spinks RK, Donelson JM, Munday PL, Ravasi T, Schunter C. Timing-specific parental effects of ocean warming in a coral reef fish. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232207. [PMID: 38772423 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Population and species persistence in a rapidly warming world will be determined by an organism's ability to acclimate to warmer conditions, especially across generations. There is potential for transgenerational acclimation but the importance of ontogenetic timing in the transmission of environmentally induced parental effects remains mostly unknown. We aimed to disentangle the effects of two critical ontogenetic stages (juvenile development and reproduction) to the new-generation acclimation potential, by exposing the spiny chromis damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus to simulated ocean warming across two generations. By using hepatic transcriptomics, we discovered that the post-hatching developmental environment of the offspring themselves had little effect on their acclimation potential at 2.5 months of life. Instead, the developmental experience of parents increased regulatory RNA production and protein synthesis, which could improve the offspring's response to warming. Conversely, parental reproduction and offspring embryogenesis in warmer water elicited stress response mechanisms in the offspring, with suppression of translation and mitochondrial respiration. Mismatches between parental developmental and reproductive temperatures deeply affected offspring gene expression profiles, and detrimental effects were evident when warming occurred both during parents' development and reproduction. This study reveals that the previous generation's developmental temperature contributes substantially to thermal acclimation potential during early life; however, exposure at reproduction as well as prolonged heat stress will likely have adverse effects on the species' persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- L C Bonzi
- The Swire Institute of Marine Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong
| | - R K Spinks
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
- Blue Carbon Section, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Australian Government , Brisbane 4000, Australia
| | - J M Donelson
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
| | - P L Munday
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
| | - T Ravasi
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University , Townsville 4810, Australia
- Marine Climate Change Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University , Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
| | - C Schunter
- The Swire Institute of Marine Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution and Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong
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Liu X, Man X, Chen M, Zhao C, Liu C, Tong J, Meng F, Shao M, Qu B. Transgenerational plasticity in morphological characteristics and biomass of the invasive plant Xanthium strumarium. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 34:e2920. [PMID: 37750229 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) allows a plant to acclimate to external variable environments and is a potential mechanism that explains the range expansion and invasion success of some exotic plants. Most studies explored the traits of TGP associated with the success of exotic plant invasions by comparison studies among exotic, native, invasive, and noninvasive species. However, studies on the TGP of invasive plants in different resource environments are scarce, and the biological mechanisms involved are not well understood. This study aimed to determine the role of TGP in the invasiveness of Xanthium strumarium in northeast China. We measured the plant morphology of aboveground parts and the growth of three generations of the invader under different environmental conditions. The results showed that the intergenerational plasticity of X. strumarium was stronger under stress conditions. We found that the X. strumarium parent generation (F0) grown under water and/or nutrient deficiency conditions transferred the environmental information to their offspring (F1 and F2). The F1 generation grown under high-resource conditions has greater height with larger crown sizes, thicker basal diameters, and higher biomass. Both water and nutrients can affect the intergenerational transmission of plant plasticity, nutrients play a more important role compared with water. The high morphological intergenerational plasticity of X. strumarium under a pressure environment can help it quickly adapt to the new environment and accelerate the rapid expansion of the population in the short term. The root:shoot ratio and reproductive and nutrient distribution of the X. strumarium F0 and F1 generations showed high stability when the growth environment of the F0 generation differed from that of the F1 generation. The stable resource allocation strategy can ensure that the obtained resources are evenly distributed to each organ to maintain the long-term existence of the community. Therefore, the study of intergenerational transmission plasticity is of great significance for understanding the invasion process, mechanism, and prevention of invasive plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyue Liu
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Xiaozhen Man
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Meishan Chen
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Changxin Zhao
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Chuang Liu
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Jialin Tong
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Fanqi Meng
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Meini Shao
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
| | - Bo Qu
- Liaoning Key Laboratory of Biological Invasions and Global Changes, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
- Liaoning Panjin Wetland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Shenyang, China
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Authier A, Cerdán P, Auge G. Non-stressful temperature changes affect transgenerational phenotypic plasticity across the life cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2023; 132:1259-1270. [PMID: 37956109 PMCID: PMC10902895 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Plants respond in a plastic manner to seasonal changes, often resulting in adaptation to environmental variation. Although much is known about how seasonality regulates developmental transitions within generations, transgenerational effects of non-stressful environmental changes are only beginning to be unveiled. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of ambient temperature changes on the expression of transgenerational plasticity in key developmental traits of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. METHODS We grew Columbia-0 plants in two contrasting temperature environments (18 and 24 °C) during their whole life cycles, or the combination of those temperatures before and after bolting (18-24 and 24-18 °C) across two generations. We recorded seed germination, flowering time and reproductive biomass production for the second generation, and seed size of the third generation. KEY RESULTS The environment during the whole life cycle of the first generation of plants, even that experienced before flowering, influenced the germination response and flowering time of the second generation. These effects showed opposing directions in a pattern dependent on the life stage experiencing the cue in the first generation. In contrast, the production of reproductive biomass depended on the immediate environment of the progeny generation. Finally, the seed area of the third generation was influenced positively by correlated environments across generations. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that non-stressful environmental changes affect the expression of key developmental traits across generations, although those changes can have contrasting effects depending on the parental and grandparental life stage that perceives the cue. Thus, transgenerational effects in response to non-stressful cues might influence the expression of life-history traits and potential adaptation of future generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ailén Authier
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Biociencias, Biotecnología y Biología Traslacional (iB3), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo Cerdán
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fundación Instituto Leloir, Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Buenos Aires - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (IIBBA - CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Gabriela Auge
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Biociencias, Biotecnología y Biología Traslacional (iB3), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Riley CL, Oostra V, Plaistow SJ. Does the definition of a novel environment affect the ability to detect cryptic genetic variation? J Evol Biol 2023; 36:1618-1629. [PMID: 37897127 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2023] [Revised: 07/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic change exposes populations to environments that have been rare or entirely absent from their evolutionary past. Such novel environments are hypothesized to release cryptic genetic variation, a hidden store of variance that can fuel evolution. However, support for this hypothesis is mixed. One possible reason is a lack of clarity in what is meant by 'novel environment', an umbrella term encompassing conditions with potentially contrasting effects on the exposure or concealment of cryptic variation. Here, we use a meta-analysis approach to investigate changes in the total genetic variance of multivariate traits in ancestral versus novel environments. To determine whether the definition of a novel environment could explain the mixed support for a release of cryptic genetic variation, we compared absolute novel environments, those not represented in a population's evolutionary past, to extreme novel environments, those involving frequency or magnitude changes to environments present in a population's ancestry. Despite sufficient statistical power, we detected no broad-scale pattern of increased genetic variance in novel environments, and finding the type of novel environment did not explain any significant variation in effect sizes. When effect sizes were partitioned by experimental design, we found increased genetic variation in studies based on broad-sense measures of variance, and decreased variation in narrow-sense studies, in support of previous research. Therefore, the source of genetic variance, not the definition of a novel environment, was key to understanding environment-dependant genetic variation, highlighting non-additive genetic variance as an important component of cryptic genetic variation and avenue for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille L Riley
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behaviour, IVES, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Vicencio Oostra
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Stewart J Plaistow
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behaviour, IVES, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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Somers DJ, Kushner DB, McKinnis AR, Mehmedovic D, Flame RS, Arnold TM. Epigenetic weapons in plant-herbivore interactions: Sulforaphane disrupts histone deacetylases, gene expression, and larval development in Spodoptera exigua while the specialist feeder Trichoplusia ni is largely resistant to these effects. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0293075. [PMID: 37856454 PMCID: PMC10586618 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Cruciferous plants produce sulforaphane (SFN), an inhibitor of nuclear histone deacetylases (HDACs). In humans and other mammals, the consumption of SFN alters enzyme activities, DNA-histone binding, and gene expression within minutes. However, the ability of SFN to act as an HDAC inhibitor in nature, disrupting the epigenetic machinery of insects feeding on these plants, has not been explored. Here, we demonstrate that SFN consumed in the diet inhibits the activity of HDAC enzymes and slows the development of the generalist grazer Spodoptera exigua, in a dose-dependent fashion. After consuming SFN for seven days, the activities of HDAC enzymes in S. exigua were reduced by 50%. Similarly, larval mass was reduced by 50% and pupation was delayed by 2-5 days, with no additional mortality. Similar results were obtained when SFN was applied topically to eggs. RNA-seq analyses confirm that SFN altered the expression of thousands of genes in S. exigua. Genes associated with energy conversion pathways were significantly downregulated while those encoding for ribosomal proteins were dramatically upregulated in response to the consumption of SFN. In contrast, the co-evolved specialist feeder Trichoplusia ni was not negatively impacted by SFN, whether it was consumed in their diet at natural concentrations or applied topically to eggs. The activities of HDAC enzymes were not inhibited and development was not disrupted. In fact, SFN exposure sometimes accelerated T. ni development. RNA-seq analyses revealed that the consumption of SFN alters gene expression in T. ni in similar ways, but to a lesser degree, compared to S. exigua. This apparent resistance of T. ni can be overwhelmed by unnaturally high levels of SFN or by exposure to more powerful pharmaceutical HDAC inhibitors. These results demonstrate that dietary SFN interferes with the epigenetic machinery of insects, supporting the hypothesis that plant-derived HDAC inhibitors serve as "epigenetic weapons" against herbivores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana J. Somers
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
| | - David B. Kushner
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
| | - Alexandria R. McKinnis
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
| | - Dzejlana Mehmedovic
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
| | - Rachel S. Flame
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
| | - Thomas M. Arnold
- Department of Biology, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA United States of America
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Earley TS, Feiner N, Alvarez MF, Coolon JD, Sultan SE. The relative impact of parental and current environment on plant transcriptomes depends on type of stress and genotype. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20230824. [PMID: 37752834 PMCID: PMC10523085 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Through developmental plasticity, an individual organism integrates influences from its immediate environment with those due to the environment of its parents. While both effects on phenotypes are well documented, their relative impact has been little studied in natural systems, especially at the level of gene expression. We examined this issue in four genotypes of the annual plant Persicaria maculosa by varying two key resources-light and soil moisture-in both generations. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the relative effects of parent and offspring environment on gene expression (i.e. the number of differentially expressed transcripts, DETs) varied both for the two types of resource stress and among genotypes. For light, immediate environment induced more DETs than parental environment for all genotypes, although the precise proportion of parental versus immediate DETs varied among genotypes. By contrast, the relative effect of soil moisture varied dramatically among genotypes, from 8-fold more DETs due to parental than immediate conditions to 10-fold fewer. These findings provide evidence at the transcriptomic level that the relative impacts of parental and immediate environment on the developing organism may depend on the environmental factor and vary strongly among genotypes, providing potential for the interplay of these developmental influences to evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy S. Earley
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | | | - Mariano F. Alvarez
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Joseph D. Coolon
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Sonia E. Sultan
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, 52 Lawn Avenue, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
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Yan Z, Tian D, Han W, Ji C, Hou X, Guo Y, Fang J. Weak transgenerational effects of ancestral nitrogen and phosphorus availabilities on offspring phenotypes in Arabidopsis thaliana. JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH 2023; 136:515-525. [PMID: 37055608 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-023-01456-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Nutrient availability significantly regulates plant growth and metabolic functions, but whether and how the long-term exposure of ancestral plants to contrasting nutrient environments influences offspring phenotypic performance (i.e., transgenerational plasticity) remain poorly addressed. Here we conducted experimental manipulations using Arabidopsis thaliana with the ancestral plants grown in different nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availabilities over eleven consecutive generations, and then examined the offspring phenotypic performance under the interactive effects of current and ancestral nutrient environments. We found that current rather than ancestral nutrient environments dominantly explained the variations in offspring plant traits (i.e., flowering time, aboveground biomass and biomass allocation fractions), suggesting the relatively weak transgenerational effects of ancestral N and P availabilities on offspring phenotypes. In contrast, increasing N and P availabilities in the offspring generation remarkably shortened the flowering time, increased the aboveground biomass, and altered biomass allocation fractions differentially among organs. Despite the overall weak transgenerational phenotypic plasticity, under the low nutrient environment, the offspring of ancestral plants from the low nutrient environment had a significantly higher fruit mass fraction than those from the suitable nutrient environment. Taken together, our findings suggest that A. thaliana exhibits a much stronger within- than trans-generational trait plasticity under contrasting nutrient availabilities, and may provide important insights into the understanding of plant adaptation and evolutionary processes under changing nutrient environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengbing Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China.
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
| | - Di Tian
- The Key Laboratory for Silviculture and Conservation of Ministry of Education, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China.
| | - Wenxuan Han
- Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of the Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Chengjun Ji
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Beijing, 100093, China
| | - Xinghui Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
| | - Yalong Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China
| | - Jingyun Fang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
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11
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Moncalvillo B, Matthies D. Performance of a parasitic plant and its effects on hosts depends on the interactions between parasite seed family and host species. AOB PLANTS 2023; 15:plac063. [PMID: 36751364 PMCID: PMC9893871 DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plac063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Root hemiparasitic plants act as keystone species influencing plant community composition through their differential suppression of host species. Their own performance also strongly depends on interactions with host species. However, little is known about the roles of parasite genetic variation vs. plasticity in these interactions. We grew plants from eight maternal families of the root hemiparasite Rhinanthus alectorolophus with six potential host species (two grasses, two legumes and two forbs) and without a host and measured fitness-related and morphological traits of the parasite, host biomass and overall productivity. Parasite biomass and other traits showed strong plastic variation in response to different host species, but were also affected by parasite maternal family. Parasite seed families responded differently to the hosts, indicating genetic variation that could serve as the basis for adaptation to different host plants. However, there were no negative correlations in the performance of families across different hosts, indicating that R. alectorolophus has plastic generalist genotypes and is not constrained in its use of different host species by trade-offs in performance. Parasite effects on host biomass (which may indicate virulence) and total productivity (host + parasite biomass) depended on the specific combination of parasite family and host species. Mean biomass of hosts with a parasite family and mean biomass of that family tended to be negatively correlated, suggesting selection for maximum resource extraction from the hosts. Specialization of generalist root hemiparasites may be restricted by a lack of trade-offs in performance across hosts, together with strong spatial and temporal variation in host species availability. The genetic variation in the effects on different hosts highlights the importance of genetic diversity of hemiparasites for their effects on plant community structure and productivity and for the success of using them to restore grassland diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Diethart Matthies
- Plant Ecology, Department of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg 35043, Germany
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12
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Latzel V, Fischer M, Groot M, Gutzat R, Lampei C, Ouborg J, Parepa M, Schmid K, Vergeer P, Zhang Y, Bossdorf O. Parental environmental effects are common and strong, but unpredictable, in Arabidopsis thaliana. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 237:1014-1023. [PMID: 36319609 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The phenotypes of plants can be influenced by the environmental conditions experienced by their parents. However, there is still much uncertainty about how common and how predictable such parental environmental effects really are. We carried out a comprehensive experimental test for parental effects, subjecting plants of multiple Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes to 24 different biotic or abiotic stresses, or combinations thereof, and comparing their offspring phenotypes in a common environment. The majority of environmental stresses caused significant parental effects, with -35% to +38% changes in offspring fitness. The expression of parental effects was strongly genotype-dependent, and multiple environmental stresses often acted nonadditively when combined. The direction and magnitude of parental effects were unrelated to the direct effects on the parents: Some environmental stresses did not affect the parents but caused substantial effects on offspring, while for others, the situation was reversed. Our study demonstrates that parental environmental effects are common and often strong in A. thaliana, but they are genotype-dependent, act nonadditively, and are difficult to predict. We should thus be cautious with generalizing from simple studies with single plant genotypes and/or only few individual environmental stresses. A thorough and general understanding of parental effects requires large multifactorial experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vít Latzel
- Institute of Botany of the CAS, Zámek 1, 252 43, Průhonice, Czech Republic
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Markus Fischer
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Maartje Groot
- Department of Experimental Plant Ecology, Radboud University, PO Box 9100, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Ruben Gutzat
- Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Dr. Bohr-Gasse 3, 1030, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christian Lampei
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
- Institute of Biology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch-Straße 8, 35032, Marburg, Germany
| | - Joop Ouborg
- Department of Experimental Plant Ecology, Radboud University, PO Box 9100, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Madalin Parepa
- Plant Evolutionary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Karl Schmid
- Institute of Plant Breeding, Seed Science and Population Genetics, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Philippine Vergeer
- Department of Experimental Plant Ecology, Radboud University, PO Box 9100, 6500 GL, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Yuanye Zhang
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361102, China
| | - Oliver Bossdorf
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
- Plant Evolutionary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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13
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Aguirrebengoa M, Müller C, Hambäck PA, González-Megías A. Density-Dependent Effects of Simultaneous Root and Floral Herbivory on Plant Fitness and Defense. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 12:283. [PMID: 36678999 PMCID: PMC9867048 DOI: 10.3390/plants12020283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Plants are attacked by multiple herbivores, and depend on a precise regulation of responses to cope with a wide range of antagonists. Simultaneous herbivory can occur in different plant compartments, which may pose a serious threat to plant growth and reproduction. In particular, plants often face co-occurring root and floral herbivory, but few studies have focused on such interactions. Here, we investigated in the field the combined density-dependent effects of root-chewing cebrionid beetle larvae and flower-chewing pierid caterpillars on the fitness and defense of a semiarid Brassicaceae herb. We found that the fitness impact of both herbivore groups was independent and density-dependent. Increasing root herbivore density non-significantly reduced plant fitness, while the relationship between increasing floral herbivore density and the reduction they caused in both seed number and seedling emergence was non-linear. The plant defensive response was non-additive with regard to the different densities of root and floral herbivores; high floral herbivore density provoked compensatory investment in reproduction, and this tolerance response was combined with aboveground chemical defense induction when also root herbivore density was high. Plants may thus prioritize specific trait combinations in response to varying combined below- and aboveground herbivore densities to minimize negative impacts on fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Caroline Müller
- Department of Chemical Ecology, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Peter A. Hambäck
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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14
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Charng YY, Mitra S, Yu SJ. Maintenance of abiotic stress memory in plants: Lessons learned from heat acclimation. THE PLANT CELL 2023; 35:187-200. [PMID: 36271858 PMCID: PMC9806581 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koac313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Plants acquire enhanced tolerance to intermittent abiotic stress by employing information obtained during prior exposure to an environmental disturbance, a process known as acclimation or defense priming. The capacity for stress memory is a critical feature in this process. The number of reports related to plant stress memory (PSM) has recently increased, but few studies have focused on the mechanisms that maintain PSM. Identifying the components involved in maintaining PSM is difficult due in part to the lack of clear criteria to recognize these components. In this review, based on what has been learned from genetic studies on heat acclimation memory, we propose criteria for identifying components of the regulatory networks that maintain PSM. We provide examples of the regulatory circuits formed by effectors and regulators of PSM. We also highlight strategies for assessing PSMs, update the progress in understanding the mechanisms of PSM maintenance, and provide perspectives for the further development of this exciting research field.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Suma Mitra
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC
- Molecular and Biological Agricultural Sciences Program, TIGP, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC
- Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Shih-Jiun Yu
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC
- Department of Biochemical Sciences and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
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15
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Morgan BL, Donohue K. Parental methylation mediates how progeny respond to environments of parents and of progeny themselves. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:883-899. [PMID: 36201313 PMCID: PMC9758305 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Environments experienced by both parents and offspring influence progeny traits, but the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate the balance of parental vs. progeny control of progeny phenotypes are not known. We tested whether DNA methylation in parents and/or progeny mediates responses to environmental cues experienced in both generations. METHODS Using Arabidopsis thaliana, we manipulated parental and progeny DNA methylation both chemically, via 5-azacytidine, and genetically, via mutants of methyltransferase genes, then measured progeny germination responses to simulated canopy shade in parental and progeny generations. KEY RESULTS We first found that germination of offspring responded to parental but not seed demethylation. We further found that parental demethylation reversed the parental effect of canopy in seeds with low (Cvi-1) to intermediate (Col) dormancy, but it obliterated the parental effect in seeds with high dormancy (Cvi-0). Demethylation did so by either suppressing germination of seeds matured under white-light (Cvi-1) or under canopy (Cvi-0), or by increasing the germination of seeds matured under canopy (Col). Disruption of parental methylation also prevented seeds from responding to their own light environment in one genotype (Cvi-0, most dormant), but it enabled seeds to respond to their own environment in another genotype (Cvi-1, least dormant). Using mutant genotypes, we found that both CG and non-CG DNA methylation were involved in parental effects on seed germination. CONCLUSIONS Parental methylation state influences seed germination more strongly than does the progeny's own methylation state, and it influences how seeds respond to environments of parents and progeny in a genotype-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britany L Morgan
- University Program in Ecology Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA
- Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
| | - Kathleen Donohue
- University Program in Ecology Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA
- Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA
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16
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Towarnicki SG, Youngson NA, Corley SM, St. John JC, Melvin RG, Turner N, Morris MJ, Ballard JWO. Ancestral dietary change alters the development of Drosophila larvae through MAPK signalling. Fly (Austin) 2022; 16:299-311. [PMID: 35765944 PMCID: PMC9354765 DOI: 10.1080/19336934.2022.2088032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Studies in a broad range of animal species have revealed phenotypes that are caused by ancestral life experiences, including stress and diet. Ancestral dietary macronutrient composition and quantity (over- and under-nutrition) have been shown to alter descendent growth, metabolism and behaviour. Molecules have been identified in gametes that are changed by ancestral diet and are required for transgenerational effects. However, there is less understanding of the developmental pathways altered by inherited molecules during the period between fertilization and adulthood. To investigate this non-genetic inheritance, we exposed great grand-parental and grand-parental generations to defined protein to carbohydrate (P:C) dietary ratios. Descendent developmental timing was consistently faster in the period between the embryonic and pupal stages when ancestors had a higher P:C ratio diet. Transcriptional analysis revealed extensive and long-lasting changes to the MAPK signalling pathway, which controls growth rate through the regulation of ribosomal RNA transcription. Pharmacological inhibition of both MAPK and rRNA pathways recapitulated the ancestral diet-induced developmental changes. This work provides insight into non-genetic inheritance between fertilization and adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel G. Towarnicki
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Neil A. Youngson
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia,The Institute of Hepatology, The Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK
| | - Susan M. Corley
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Jus C. St. John
- Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Richard G. Melvin
- Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Nigel Turner
- The Institute of Hepatology, The Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK
| | - Margaret J. Morris
- The Institute of Hepatology, The Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK
| | - J. William O. Ballard
- Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia,Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Victoria 3086, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia,CONTACT J. William O. Ballard Department of Environment and Genetics, SABE, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC3086, Australia
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17
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Gomulkiewicz R, Stinchcombe JR. Phenotypic plasticity made simple, but not too simple. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2022; 109:1519-1524. [PMID: 36109846 PMCID: PMC9828142 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Richard Gomulkiewicz
- School of Biological SciencesWashington State UniversityPullmanWashington99164USA
| | - John R. Stinchcombe
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of TorontoTorontoOntarioM5S3B2Canada
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18
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Wang MC, Furukawa F, Wang CW, Peng HW, Lin CC, Lin TH, Tseng YC. Multigenerational inspections of environmental thermal perturbations promote metabolic trade-offs in developmental stages of tropical fish. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2022; 308:119605. [PMID: 35691444 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Global warming both reduces global temperature variance and increases the frequency of extreme weather events. In response to these ambient perturbations, animals may be subject to trans- or intra-generational phenotype modifications that help to maintain homeostasis and fitness. Here, we show how temperature-associated transgenerational plasticity in tilapia affects metabolic trade-offs during developmental stages under a global warming scenario. Tropical tilapia reared at a stable temperature of 27 °C for a decade were divided into two temperature-experience groups for four generations of breeding. Each generation of one group was exposed to a single 15 °C cold-shock experience during its lifetime (cold-experienced CE group), and the other group was kept stably at 27 °C throughout their lifetimes (cold-naïve CN group). The offspring at early life stages from the CE and CN tilapia were then assessed by metabolomics-based profiling, and the results implied that parental cold-experience might affect energy provision during reproduction. Furthermore, at early life stages, progeny may be endowed with metabolic traits that help the animals cope with ambient temperature perturbations. This study also applied the feature rescaling and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) to visualize metabolic dynamics, and the result could effectively decompose the complex omic-based datasets to represent the energy trade-off variability. For example, the carbohydrate to free amino acid conversion and enhanced compensatory features appeared to be hypothermic-responsive traits. These multigenerational metabolic effects suggest that the tropical ectothermic tilapia may exhibit transgenerational phenotype plasticity, which could optimize energy allocation under ambient temperature challenges. Knowledge about such metabolism-related transgenerational plasticity effects in ectothermic aquatic species may allow us to better predict how adaptive mechanisms will affect fish populations in a climate with narrow temperature variation and frequent extreme weather events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min-Chen Wang
- Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, I-Lan County, Taiwan; Biodiversity Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica and National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Fumiya Furukawa
- School of Marine Biosciences, Kitasato University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ching-Wei Wang
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Hui-Wen Peng
- Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, I-Lan County, Taiwan
| | - Ching-Chun Lin
- Biomedical Translation Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Hao Lin
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Yung-Che Tseng
- Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, I-Lan County, Taiwan.
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19
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Göpel T, Burggren WW. Insufficient reporting of experimental variables as a cause for nonreproducibility in animal physiology? A case study. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2022; 323:R363-R374. [PMID: 35816721 PMCID: PMC9467468 DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00026.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Nonreproducibility in scientific investigations has been explained by inadequately reporting methodology, honest error, and even misconduct. We hypothesized that, within the field of animal physiology, the most parsimonious explanation for nonreproducibility is inadequate reporting of key methodological details. We further hypothesized that implementation of relatively recently released reporting guidelines has positively impacted journal article quality, as measured by completeness of the methodology descriptions. We analyzed 84 research articles published in five primarily organismal animal physiology journals in 2008-2010 (generally before current guidelines) and 2018-2020. Compliance for reporting 34 variables referring to biology, experiments, and data collection was assessed. Reporting compliance was just ∼61% in 2008-2010, rising only slightly to 67.5% for 2018-2020. Only 21% of the reported variables showed significant differences across the period from 2008-2020. We conclude that, despite attempts by societies and journals to promote greater reporting compliance, such efforts have so far been relatively unsuccessful in the field of animal physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Torben Göpel
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
| | - Warren W Burggren
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
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20
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Matesanz S, Ramos-Muñoz M, Rubio Teso ML, Iriondo JM. Effects of parental drought on offspring fitness vary among populations of a crop wild relative. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220065. [PMID: 36000234 PMCID: PMC9399706 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Transgenerational plasticity is a form of non-genetic inheritance that can reduce or enhance offspring fitness depending on parental stress. Yet, the adaptive value of such parental environmental effects and whether their expression varies among populations remain largely unknown. We used self-fertilized lines from climatically distinct populations of the crop wild relative Lupinus angustifolius. In the parental generation, full-siblings were grown in two contrasting watering environments. Then, to robustly separate the within-generation and transgenerational response to drought, we reciprocally assigned the offspring of parents to the same experimental treatments. We measured key functional traits and assessed lifetime reproductive fitness. Offspring of drought-stressed parents produced less reproductive biomass, but a similar number of lighter seeds, in dry soil compared to offspring of genetically identical, well-watered parents, an effect not mediated by differences in seed provisioning. Importantly, while the offspring of parents grown in the favourable environment responded to drought by slightly increasing individual seed mass, the pattern of plasticity of the offspring of drought-grown parents showed the opposite direction, and the negative effects of parental drought on seed mass were more pronounced in populations from cooler and moist habitats. Overall, our results show that parental effects may override immediate adaptive responses to drought and provide evidence of population-level variation in the expression of transgenerational plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Matesanz
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marina Ramos-Muñoz
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
| | - María Luisa Rubio Teso
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
| | - José María Iriondo
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
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21
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Ragsdale A, Ortega-Recalde O, Dutoit L, Besson AA, Chia JHZ, King T, Nakagawa S, Hickey A, Gemmell NJ, Hore T, Johnson SL. Paternal hypoxia exposure primes offspring for increased hypoxia resistance. BMC Biol 2022; 20:185. [PMID: 36038899 PMCID: PMC9426223 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01389-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In a time of rapid environmental change, understanding how the challenges experienced by one generation can influence the fitness of future generations is critically needed. Using tolerance assays and transcriptomic and methylome approaches, we use zebrafish as a model to investigate cross-generational acclimation to hypoxia. Results We show that short-term paternal exposure to hypoxia endows offspring with greater tolerance to acute hypoxia. We detected two hemoglobin genes that are significantly upregulated by more than 6-fold in the offspring of hypoxia exposed males. Moreover, the offspring which maintained equilibrium the longest showed greatest upregulation in hemoglobin expression. We did not detect differential methylation at any of the differentially expressed genes, suggesting that other epigenetic mechanisms are responsible for alterations in gene expression. Conclusions Overall, our findings suggest that an epigenetic memory of past hypoxia exposure is maintained and that this environmentally induced information is transferred to subsequent generations, pre-acclimating progeny to cope with hypoxic conditions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-022-01389-x.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ludovic Dutoit
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Anne A Besson
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Jolyn H Z Chia
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Tania King
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Anthony Hickey
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Neil J Gemmell
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Timothy Hore
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Sheri L Johnson
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
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22
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Guo Y, Quan J, Wang X, Zhang Z, Liu X, Zhang R, Yue M. Predictability of parental ultraviolet-B environment shapes the growth strategies of clonal Glechoma longituba. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:949752. [PMID: 35991455 PMCID: PMC9386186 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.949752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Although there is an increasing debate about ecological consequences of environmental predictability for plant phenotype and fitness, the effect of predictability of parental environments on the offspring is still indefinite. To clarify the role of environmental predictability in maternal effects and the growth strategy of clonal offspring, a greenhouse experiment was conducted with Glechoma longituba. The parental ramets were arranged in three ultraviolet-B (UV-B) conditions, representing two predictable environments (regular and enhanced UV-B) and an unpredictable environment (random UV-B), respectively. The offspring environments were the same as their parent or not (without UV-B). At the end of experiment, the growth parameters of offspring were analyzed. The results showed that maternal effects and offspring growth were regulated by environmental predictability. Offspring of unpredictable environmental parents invested more resources in improving defense components rather than in rapid growth. Although offspring of predictable parents combined two processes of defense and growth, there were still some differences in the strategies between the two offspring, and the offspring of regular parent increased the biomass allocation to roots (0.069 g of control vs. 0.092 g of regular), but that of enhanced parent changed the resource allocation of nitrogen in roots and phosphorus in blade. Moreover, when UV-B environments of parent and offspring were matched, it seemed that maternal effects were not adaptive, while the growth inhibition in the predictable environment was weaker than that in unpredictable environment. In the predictable environment, the recovered R/S and the increased defense substances (flavonoid and anthocyanin) contributed to improving offspring fitness. In addition, when UV-B environments of parent and offspring were mismatched, offspring growth was restored or improved to some extent. The offspring performance in mismatched environments was controlled by both transgenerational effect and within-generational plasticity. In summary, the maternal effects affected growth strategies of offspring, and the differences of strategies depended on the predictability of parental UV-B environments, the clone improved chemical defense to cope with unpredictable environments, while the growth and defense could be balanced in predictable environments. The anticipatory maternal effects were likely to improve the UV-B resistance.
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23
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Morgan BL, Donohue K. Parental
DNA
methylation influences plasticity of early offspring traits, but offspring
DNA
methylation influences trait plasticity throughout life. Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Britany L. Morgan
- University Program in Ecology Duke University Durham North Carolina USA
- Center for Agricultural Synthetic Biology University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA
| | - Kathleen Donohue
- University Program in Ecology Duke University Durham North Carolina USA
- Biology Department Duke University Durham North Carolina USA
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24
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Chen YH, Wei GW, Cui Y, Luo FL. Nutrient Inputs Alleviate Negative Effects of Early and Subsequent Flooding on Growth of Polygonum hydropiper With the Aid of Adventitious Roots. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:919409. [PMID: 35937344 PMCID: PMC9355131 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.919409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Riparian plants are exposed to harmful stress induced by flooding, which is often accompanied by eutrophication in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. The phenomenon is mainly caused by domestic sewage discharges, slow water flow, and agricultural fertilizer pollution. Simulating abiotic stress, such as flooding at the initial period, can act as a signal and induce positive responses of plants to subsequent severe stress. In addition, eutrophication supplies nutrients, provides a favorable environment in the early stages of plant, and facilitates good performance in later development. However, whether early flooding (with or without eutrophication) acts as positive cue or as stress on plants at different developmental stages remains unclear. To address this question, seeds of Polygonum hydropiper were collected from low and high elevations in the hydro-fluctuation belt of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region. Plants germinated from these seeds were subjected to shallower and shorter early flooding treatments with or without eutrophication. Subsequently, plants were subjected to deeper and longer flooding treatments with or without eutrophication. Early flooding and eutrophic flooding significantly induced generation of adventitious roots, suggesting morphological adaptation to flooding. Although early flooding and eutrophic flooding treatments did not increase plant biomass in subsequent treatments compared with control, stem length, length and width of the 1st fully expanded leaf, and biomass of plants in the early eutrophic treatment were higher than these of the early flooding treatment plants. These results suggest a negative lag-effect of early flooding, and also indicate that nutrient inputs can alleviate such effects. Similarly, subsequent eutrophic flooding also enhanced plant growth compared with subsequent flooding, showing significantly higher values of leaf traits and adventitious root number. Plants originated from low elevation had significantly higher functional leaf length and stem biomass compared with those from high elevation. These results suggest that nutrient inputs can alleviate negative effects of early and subsequent flooding on growth of P. hydropiper with the generation of adventitious roots.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Han Chen
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Guan-Wen Wei
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuan Cui
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Fang-Li Luo
- School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
- The Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection in the Yellow River Basin of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing, China
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Pais‐Costa AJ, Lievens EJP, Redón S, Sánchez MI, Jabbour‐Zahab R, Joncour P, Van Hoa N, Van Stappen G, Lenormand T. Phenotypic but no genetic adaptation in zooplankton 24 years after an abrupt +10°C climate change. Evol Lett 2022; 6:284-294. [PMID: 35937473 PMCID: PMC9346084 DOI: 10.1002/evl3.280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Revised: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The climate is currently warming fast, threatening biodiversity all over the globe. Populations often adapt rapidly to environmental change, but for climate warming very little evidence is available. Here, we investigate the pattern of adaptation to an extreme +10°C climate change in the wild, following the introduction of brine shrimp Artemia franciscana from San Francisco Bay, USA, to Vinh Chau saltern in Vietnam. We use a resurrection ecology approach, hatching diapause eggs from the ancestral population and the introduced population after 13 and 24 years (∼54 and ∼100 generations, respectively). In a series of coordinated experiments, we determined whether the introduced Artemia show increased tolerance to higher temperatures, and the extent to which genetic adaptation, developmental plasticity, transgenerational effects, and local microbiome differences contributed to this tolerance. We find that introduced brine shrimp do show increased phenotypic tolerance to warming. Yet strikingly, these changes do not have a detectable additive genetic component, are not caused by mitochondrial genetic variation, and do not seem to be caused by epigenetic marks set by adult parents exposed to warming. Further, we do not find any developmental plasticity that would help cope with warming, nor any protective effect of heat‐tolerant local microbiota. The evolved thermal tolerance might therefore be entirely due to transgenerational (great)grandparental effects, possibly epigenetic marks set by parents who were exposed to high temperatures as juveniles. This study is a striking example of “missing heritability,” where a large adaptive phenotypic change is not accompanied by additive genetic effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antónia Juliana Pais‐Costa
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD Montpellier 34293 France
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Faculty of Sciences and Technology University of Coimbra Coimbra 3004‐517 Portugal
| | - Eva J. P. Lievens
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD Montpellier 34293 France
- Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz 78464 Germany
| | - Stella Redón
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD Montpellier 34293 France
- Department of Wetland Ecology Estación Biológica de Doñana‐CSIC Sevilla 41092 Spain
| | - Marta I. Sánchez
- Department of Wetland Ecology Estación Biológica de Doñana‐CSIC Sevilla 41092 Spain
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla 41012 Spain
| | - Roula Jabbour‐Zahab
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD Montpellier 34293 France
| | - Pauline Joncour
- CNRS, Université de Rennes 1, ECOBIO (écosystème, biodiversité, évolution) ‐ UMR 6553 Rennes 35042 France
| | - Nguyen Van Hoa
- Department of Coastal Aquaculture College of Aquaculture and Fisheries Can Tho University Can Tho Vietnam
| | - Gilbert Van Stappen
- Laboratory of Aquaculture and Artemia Reference Center Ghent University Gent B‐9000 Belgium
| | - Thomas Lenormand
- CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, EPHE, IRD Montpellier 34293 France
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Tie D, Guo Y, Zhu C, Quan J, Liu S, Zhou Z, Chai Y, Yue M, Liu X. Parental UV-B radiation regulates the habitat selection of clonal Duchesnea indica in heterogeneous light environments. FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY : FPB 2022; 49:600-612. [PMID: 35272763 DOI: 10.1071/fp21253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Habitat selection behaviour is an effective strategy adopted by clonal plants in heterogeneous understorey light environments, and it is likely regulated by the parental environment's ultraviolet-B radiation levels (UV-B) due to the photomorphogenesis of UV-B and maternal effects. Here, parental ramets of Duchesnea indica were treated with two UV-B radiation levels [high (UV5 group) and low (UV10 group)], newborn offspring were grown under a heterogeneous light environment (ambient light vs shade habitat), and the growth and DNA methylation variations of parents and offspring were analysed. The results showed that parental UV-B affected not only the growth of the parent but also the offspring. The offspring of different UV-B-radiated parents showed different performances. Although these offspring all displayed a tendency to escape from light environments, such as entering shade habitats earlier, and allocating more biomass under shade (33.06% of control, 42.28% of UV5 and 72.73% of UV10), these were particularly obvious in offspring of the high UV-B parent. Improvements in epigenetic diversity (4.77 of control vs 4.83 of UV10) and total DNA methylation levels (25.94% of control vs 27.15% of UV10) and the inhibition of shade avoidance syndrome (denser growth with shorter stolons and internodes) were only observed in offspring of high UV-B parents. This difference was related to the eustress and stress effects of low and high UV-B, respectively. Overall, the behaviour of D. indica under heterogeneous light conditions was regulated by the parental UV-B exposure. Moreover, certain performance improvements helped offspring pre-regulate growth to cope with future environments and were probably associated with the effects of maternal DNA methylation variations in UV-B-radiated parents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Tie
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China; and Linyou Branch of Baoji Tobacco Company, Linyou County, Baoji, China
| | - Yuehan Guo
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chunrui Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jiaxin Quan
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shiqiang Liu
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhe Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Yongfu Chai
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Ming Yue
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xiao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
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Long-Term Maternal Fertilizer Addition Increased Seed Size but Decreased Germination Capacity and Offspring Performance in Taxus baccata L. FORESTS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/f13050670] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Plant fitness and species persistence depend on seed quantity and their ability to germinate and produce viable offspring. Although maternal environment can have a great impact on seed quality, few studies are pointing to the transgenerational effect of maternal environment on germination rate and offspring traits. Moreover, global changes connected to nitrogen and phosphorus deposition can also impact plants’ reproductive performance. Here, we collected Taxus baccata L. seeds produced by the same genotype female plants grown in different nutritional regimes. We use them to analyze seed size and the impact of long-term fertilization on germination capacity and offspring traits. Our results show that long-term maternal fertilizer addition increases the ratio of large seeds produced, but at the same time decreases germination capacity compared to control and nonfertilized plants. Moreover, it was demonstrated that maternal environment impacts seed traits and germination rate, and seed mass rather than maternal environment impacts offspring performance. Therefore, the study provides information on how the maternal environment regulates seed traits and germination capacity as well as seedling growth to adapt to increased nitrogen and phosphorus deposition and improves prediction about plants’ response to global environmental changes.
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Zhou X, Li J, Gao Y, Peng P, He W. Maternal effects of climate warming and nitrogen deposition vary with home and introduced ranges. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Xiao‐Hui Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
- College of Resources and Environment University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
| | - Jing‐Ji Li
- College of Ecology and Environment Chengdu University of Technology Chengdu China
| | - Yuan‐Yuan Gao
- Institute of Ecological Resources and Landscape Architecture Chengdu University of Technology Chengdu China
| | - Pei‐Hao Peng
- Institute of Ecological Resources and Landscape Architecture Chengdu University of Technology Chengdu China
| | - Wei‐Ming He
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
- College of Resources and Environment University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
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29
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Authier A, Cerdán P, Auge GA. Role of the RNA-directed DNA Methylation pathway in the regulation of maternal effects in Arabidopsis thaliana seed germination. MICROPUBLICATION BIOLOGY 2021; 2021:10.17912/micropub.biology.000504. [PMID: 34901781 PMCID: PMC8652579 DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The RNA-directed DNA Methylation pathway (RdDM) influences progeny seed responses to different maternal environments. However, its role in the regulation of early traits in response to non-stressful environmental cues across generations, which can potentially affect life cycle adjustment to seasonal changes, has not been explored in detail. Here we show that the RdDM pathway regulates overall germination but, in some instances, it does so depending on the early life maternal environment. Altogether, our results support that epigenetic memory (mediated by RdDM) is regulating intergenerational transmission of environmental information to affect the phenotypic expression of early traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ailén Authier
- Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Argentina,
Instituto de Biociencias, Biotecnología y Biología Traslacional (iB3), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo Cerdán
- Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Argentina
| | - Gabriela A. Auge
- Fundación Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Argentina,
Instituto de Biociencias, Biotecnología y Biología Traslacional (iB3), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Correspondence to: Gabriela A. Auge ()
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30
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Zettlemoyer MA, Lau JA. Warming during maternal generations delays offspring germination in native and nonnative species. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Meredith A. Zettlemoyer
- Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State Univ. Hickory Corners MI USA
- Dept of Plant Biology, Michigan State Univ. East Lansing MI USA
- Dept of Plant Biology, Univ. of Georgia Athens GA USA
| | - Jennifer A. Lau
- Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State Univ. Hickory Corners MI USA
- Dept of Plant Biology, Michigan State Univ. East Lansing MI USA
- Dept of Biology&Environmental Resilience Inst., Indiana Univ. Bloomington IN USA
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31
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Alvarez M, Bleich A, Donohue K. Genetic differences in the temporal and environmental stability of transgenerational environmental effects. Evolution 2021; 75:2773-2790. [PMID: 34586633 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Environments influence the expression of phenotypes of individuals, their progeny, and even their grandprogeny. The duration of environmental effects and how they are modified by subsequent environments are predicted to be targets of natural selection in variable environments. However, little is known about the genetic basis of the temporal persistence of environmental effects and their stability of expression across subsequent environments, or even the extent to which natural genotypes differ in these attributes of environmental effects. We factorially manipulated the thermal environment experienced in three successive generations, to quantify the temporal persistence and environmental stability of temperature effects in contrasting genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that genotypes differed in the manner in which environmental effects dissipated across successive generations, the manner in which responses to ancestral environments were stably expressed in present environments, the manner in which ancestral environments altered responses to present environments, and in the manner in which ancestral environments altered fitness in present conditions. Genetic variation exists in nature for these trait-specific environmental responses, suggesting that the temporal persistence and stability of environmental effects in variable environments have the potential to evolve in response to natural selection imposed by different environments and sequences of environments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrew Bleich
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708
| | - Kathleen Donohue
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708
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32
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Waterman R, Sultan SE. Transgenerational effects of parent plant competition on offspring development in contrasting conditions. Ecology 2021; 102:e03531. [PMID: 34496058 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Conditions during a parent's lifetime can induce phenotypic changes in offspring, providing a potentially important source of variation in natural populations. Yet, to date, biotic factors have seldom been tested as sources of transgenerational effects in plants. In a greenhouse experiment with the generalist annual Polygonum persicaria, we tested for effects of parental competition on offspring by growing isogenic parent plants either individually or in competitive arrays and comparing their seedling progeny in contrasting growth environments. Offspring of competing vs. non-competing parents showed significantly altered development, resulting in greater biomass and total leaf area, but only when growing in neighbor or simulated canopy shade, rather than sunny dry conditions. A follow-up experiment in which parent plants instead competed in dry soil found that offspring in dry soil had slightly reduced growth, both with and without competitors. In neither experiment were effects of parental competition explained by changes in seed provisioning, suggesting a more complex mode of regulatory inheritance. We hypothesize that parental competition in moist soil (i.e., primarily for light) confers specific developmental effects that are beneficial for light-limited offspring, while parental competition in dry soil (i.e., primarily for belowground resources) produces offspring of slightly lower overall quality. Together, these results indicate that competitive conditions during the parental generation can contribute significantly to offspring variation, but these transgenerational effects will depend on the abiotic resources available to both parents and progeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Waterman
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459, USA.,Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48823, USA
| | - Sonia E Sultan
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459, USA
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33
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Ueno AC, Gundel PE, Molina-Montenegro MA, Ramos P, Ghersa CM, Martínez-Ghersa MA. Getting ready for the ozone battle: Vertically transmitted fungal endophytes have transgenerational positive effects in plants. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2021; 44:2716-2728. [PMID: 33721328 DOI: 10.1111/pce.14047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2020] [Revised: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Ground-level ozone is a global air pollutant with high toxicity and represents a threat to plants and microorganisms. Although beneficial microorganisms can improve host performance, their role in connecting environmentally induced maternal plant phenotypes to progeny (transgenerational effects [TGE]) is unknown. We evaluated fungal endophyte-mediated consequences of maternal plant exposure to ozone on performance of the progeny under contrasting scenarios of the same factor (high and low) at two stages: seedling and young plant. With no variation in biomass, maternal ozone-induced oxidative damage in the progeny that was lower in endophyte-symbiotic plants. This correlated with an endophyte-mediated higher concentration of proline, a defence compound associated with stress control. Interestingly, ozone-induced TGE was not associated with reductions in plant survival. On the contrary, there was an overall positive effect on seedling survival in the presence of endophytes. The positive effect of maternal ozone increasing young plant survival was irrespective of symbiosis and only expressed under high ozone condition. Our study shows that hereditary microorganisms can modulate the capacity of plants to transgenerationally adjust progeny phenotype to atmospheric change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea C Ueno
- Facultad de Agronomía, IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pedro E Gundel
- Facultad de Agronomía, IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Marco A Molina-Montenegro
- Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
- Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile
- Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Maule (CIEAM), Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
| | - Patricio Ramos
- Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
- Núcleo Científico Multidisciplinario-DI, Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile
| | - Claudio M Ghersa
- Facultad de Agronomía, IFEVA, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Stamps JA, Bell AM. Combining information from parental and personal experiences: Simple processes generate diverse outcomes. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0250540. [PMID: 34255774 PMCID: PMC8277055 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Experiences of parents and/or offspring are often assumed to affect the development of trait values in offspring because they provide information about the external environment. However, it is currently unclear how information from parental and offspring experiences might jointly affect the information-states that provide the foundation for the offspring phenotypes observed in empirical studies of developmental plasticity in response to environmental cues. We analyze Bayesian models designed to mimic fully-factorial experimental studies of trans and within- generational plasticity (TWP), in which parents, offspring, both or neither are exposed to cues from predators, to determine how different durations of cue exposure for parents and offspring, the devaluation of information from parents or the degradation of information from parents would affect offspring estimates of environmental states related to risk of predation at the end of such experiments. We show that the effects of different cue durations, the devaluation of information from parents, and the degradation of information from parents on offspring estimates are all expected to vary as a function of interactions with two other key components of information-based models of TWP: parental priors and the relative cue reliability in the different treatments. Our results suggest empiricists should expect to observe considerable variation in the patterns observed in experimental studies of TWP based on simple principles of information-updating, without needing to invoke additional assumptions about costs, tradeoffs, development constraints, the fitness consequences of different trait values, or other factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judy A. Stamps
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America
| | - Alison M. Bell
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
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35
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Choi HJ, Wang C, Pan X, Jang J, Cao M, Brazzo JA, Bae Y, Lee K. Emerging machine learning approaches to phenotyping cellular motility and morphodynamics. Phys Biol 2021; 18:10.1088/1478-3975/abffbe. [PMID: 33971636 PMCID: PMC9131244 DOI: 10.1088/1478-3975/abffbe] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2020] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Cells respond heterogeneously to molecular and environmental perturbations. Phenotypic heterogeneity, wherein multiple phenotypes coexist in the same conditions, presents challenges when interpreting the observed heterogeneity. Advances in live cell microscopy allow researchers to acquire an unprecedented amount of live cell image data at high spatiotemporal resolutions. Phenotyping cellular dynamics, however, is a nontrivial task and requires machine learning (ML) approaches to discern phenotypic heterogeneity from live cell images. In recent years, ML has proven instrumental in biomedical research, allowing scientists to implement sophisticated computation in which computers learn and effectively perform specific analyses with minimal human instruction or intervention. In this review, we discuss how ML has been recently employed in the study of cell motility and morphodynamics to identify phenotypes from computer vision analysis. We focus on new approaches to extract and learn meaningful spatiotemporal features from complex live cell images for cellular and subcellular phenotyping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hee June Choi
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States of America
| | - Chuangqi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
- Present address. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xiang Pan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States of America
| | - Junbong Jang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States of America
| | - Mengzhi Cao
- Data Science Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
| | - Joseph A Brazzo
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States of America
| | - Yongho Bae
- Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, United States of America
| | - Kwonmoo Lee
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, United States of America
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, United States of America
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36
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McGuigan K, Hoffmann AA, Sgrò CM. How is epigenetics predicted to contribute to climate change adaptation? What evidence do we need? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200119. [PMID: 33866811 PMCID: PMC8059617 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Transgenerational effects that are interpreted in terms of epigenetics have become an important research focus at a time when rapid environmental changes are occurring. These effects are usually interpreted as enhancing fitness extremely rapidly, without depending on the slower process of natural selection changing DNA-encoded (fixed) genetic variants in populations. Supporting evidence comes from a variety of sources, including environmental associations with epialleles, cross-generation responses of clonal material exposed to different environmental conditions, and altered patterns of methylation or frequency changes in epialleles across time. Transgenerational environmental effects have been postulated to be larger than those associated with DNA-encoded genetic changes, based on (for instance) stronger associations between epialleles and environmental conditions. Yet environmental associations for fixed genetic differences may always be weak under polygenic models where multiple combinations of alleles can lead to the same evolutionary outcome. The ultimate currency of adaptation is fitness, and few transgenerational studies have robustly determined fitness effects, particularly when compared to fixed genetic variants. Not all transgenerational modifications triggered by climate change will increase fitness: stressful conditions often trigger negative fitness effects across generations that can eliminate benefits. Epigenetic responses and other transgenerational effects will undoubtedly play a role in climate change adaptation, but further, well-designed, studies are required to test their importance relative to DNA-encoded changes. This article is part of the theme issue 'How does epigenetics influence the course of evolution?'
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina McGuigan
- School of Biological Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ary A. Hoffmann
- School of Biosciences and Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia
| | - Carla M. Sgrò
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne 3800, Australia
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Graeve A, Janßen M, Villalba de la Pena M, Tollrian R, Weiss LC. Higher, Faster, Better: Maternal Effects Shorten Time Lags and Increase Morphological Defenses in Daphnia lumholtzi Offspring Generations. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.637421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prey species can respond to the presence of predators by inducing phenotypic plastic traits which form morphological, life history or behavioral defenses. These so-called inducible defenses have evolved within a cost-benefit framework. They are only formed when they are needed, and costs associated with defenses are saved when predators are not present. However, a disadvantage compared to permanent defenses are lag phases between predator perception and the full formation of defenses. This may be especially important when the predation risk persists for longer periods, e.g., outlasts one generation and challenges prey offspring. We hypothesized that transgenerational induced phenotypic plasticity reduces lag phases in situations where hazards threaten specimens over several generations. We tested this in three generations of the freshwater crustacean Daphnia lumholtzi using the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus as predator. In the presence of chemical cues from fish D. lumholtzi expresses elongated head and tail spines. In the F0 generation defenses are constraint by a comparatively long lag phase and are not developed prior to the 3rd instar. In the F1, and F2 of induced animals this lag phase is shortened and defenses are developed upon birth. We show that induction of TGP in the mothers takes place already during the juvenile stages and transfers to the offspring generation in forms of shortened time lags and enhanced trait expression. When progeny is additionally exposed to fish cues as embryos, the addition of maternal and embryonic effects further enhances the magnitude of defense expression. Our findings detail a distinguished strategy of transgenerational phenotypic plasticity which allows to shorten lag phases of trait changes in phenotypic plasticity.
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Bautista NM, do Amaral-Silva L, Dzialowski E, Burggren WW. Dietary Exposure to Low Levels of Crude Oil Affects Physiological and Morphological Phenotype in Adults and Their Eggs and Hatchlings of the King Quail ( Coturnix chinensis). Front Physiol 2021; 12:661943. [PMID: 33897469 PMCID: PMC8063051 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.661943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the current knowledge of the devastating effects of external exposure to crude oil on animal mortality, the study of developmental, transgenerational effects of such exposure has received little attention. We used the king quail as an animal model to determine if chronic dietary exposure to crude oil in a parental population would affect morpho-physiological phenotypic variables in their immediate offspring generation. Adult quail were separated into three groups: (1) Control, and two experimental groups dietarily exposed for at least 3 weeks to (2) Low (800 PAH ng/g food), or (3) High (2,400 PAH ng/g food) levels of crude oil. To determine the parental influence on their offspring, we measured metabolic and respiratory physiology in exposed parents and in their non-exposed eggs and hatchlings. Body mass and numerous metabolic (e.g., O2 consumption, CO2 production) and respiratory (e.g., ventilation frequency and volume) variables did not vary between control and oil exposed parental groups. In contrast, blood PO2, PCO2, and SO2 varied among parental groups. Notably, water loss though the eggshell was increased in eggs from High oil level exposed parents. Respiratory variables of hatchlings did not vary between populations, but hatchlings obtained from High oil-exposed parents exhibited lower capacities to maintain body temperature while exposed to a cooling protocol in comparison to hatchlings from Low- and Control-derived parents. The present study demonstrates that parental exposure to crude oil via diet impacts some aspects of physiological performance of the subsequent first (F1) generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naim M Bautista
- Zoophysiology, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, United States
| | - Lara do Amaral-Silva
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, United States.,Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, College of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Edward Dzialowski
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, United States
| | - Warren W Burggren
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, United States
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Puy J, de Bello F, Dvořáková H, Medina NG, Latzel V, Carmona CP. Competition-induced transgenerational plasticity influences competitive interactions and leaf decomposition of offspring. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2021; 229:3497-3507. [PMID: 33111354 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity, within and across generations (transgenerational plasticity), allows organisms and their progeny to adapt to the environment without modification of the underlying DNA. Recent findings suggest that epigenetic modifications are important mediators of such plasticity. However, empirical studies have, so far, mainly focused on plasticity in response to abiotic factors, overlooking the response to competition. We tested for within-generation and transgenerational phenotypic plasticity triggered by plant-plant competition intensity, and we tested whether it was mediated via DNA methylation, using the perennial, apomictic herb Taraxacum brevicorniculatum in four coordinated experiments. We then tested the consequences of transgenerational plasticity affecting competitive interactions of the offspring and ecosystem processes, such as decomposition. We found that, by promoting differences in DNA methylation, offspring of plants under stronger competition developed faster and presented more resource-conservative phenotypes. Further, these adjustments associated with less degradable leaves, which have the potential to reduce nutrient turnover and might, in turn, favour plants with more conservative traits. Greater parental competition enhanced competitive abilities of the offspring, by triggering adaptive phenotypic plasticity, and decreased offspring leaf decomposability. Our results suggest that competition-induced transgenerational effects could promote rapid adaptations and species coexistence and feed back on biodiversity assembly and nutrient cycling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Puy
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
- Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - Francesco de Bello
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
- Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación, Valencia, 46113, Spain
| | - Hana Dvořáková
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
| | - Nagore G Medina
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, 37005, Czech Republic
- Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, 28049, Spain
- Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, 28049, Spain
| | - Vit Latzel
- Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences, Průhonice, 25243, Czech Republic
| | - Carlos P Carmona
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, Department of Botany, University of Tartu, Tartu, 51005, Estonia
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Höckerstedt L, Susi H, Laine A. Effect of maternal infection on progeny growth and resistance mediated by maternal genotype and nutrient availability. THE JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2021; 109:1439-1451. [PMID: 33776136 PMCID: PMC7986887 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.13568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Maternal effects of pathogen infection on progeny development and disease resistance may be adaptive and have important consequences for population dynamics. However, these effects are often context-dependent and examples of adaptive transgenerational responses from perennials are scarce, although they may be a particularly important mechanism generating variation in the offspring of long-lived species.Here, we studied the effect of maternal infection of Plantago lanceolata by Podosphaera plantaginis, a fungal parasite, on the growth, flower production and resistance of the progeny of six maternal genotypes in nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor environments. For this purpose, we combined a common garden study with automated phenotyping measurements of early life stages, and an inoculation experiment.Our results show that the effects of infection on the mother plants transcend to impact their progeny. Although maternal infection decreased total leaf and flower production of the progeny by the end of the growing season, it accelerated early growth and enhanced resistance to the pathogen P. plantaginis.We also discovered that the effects of maternal infection affected progeny development and resistance through a three way-interaction between maternal genotype, maternal infection status and nutrient availability. Synthesis. Our results emphasize the importance of maternal effects mediated through genotypic and environmental factors in long-living perennials and suggest that maternal infection can create a layer of phenotypic diversity in resistance. These results may have important implications for both epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics of host-parasite interactions in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Layla Höckerstedt
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary BiologyFaculty of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Climate System ResearchFinnish Meteorological InstituteHelsinkiFinland
| | - Hanna Susi
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary BiologyFaculty of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Anna‐Liisa Laine
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary BiologyFaculty of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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Li Y, Hou L, Yang L, Yue M. Transgenerational effect alters the interspecific competition between two dominant species in a temperate steppe. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:1175-1186. [PMID: 33598122 PMCID: PMC7863671 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2020] [Revised: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the key aims of global change studies is to predict more accurately how plant community composition responds to future environmental changes. Although interspecific relationship is one of the most important forces structuring plant communities, it remains a challenge to integrate long-term consequences at the plant community level. As an increasing number of studies have shown that maternal environment affects offspring phenotypic plasticity as a response to global environment change through transgenerational effects, we speculated that the transgenerational effect would influence offspring competitive relationships. We conducted a 10-year field experiment and a greenhouse experiment in a temperate grassland in an Inner Mongolian grassland to examine the effects of maternal and immediate nitrogen addition (N) and increased precipitation (Pr) on offspring growth and the interspecific relationship between the two dominant species, Stipa krylovii and Artemisia frigida. According to our results, Stipa kryloii suppressed A. frigida growth and population development when they grew in mixture, although immediate N and Pr stimulated S. kryloii and A. frigida growth simultaneously. Maternal N and Pr declined S. krylovii dominance and decreased A. frigida competitive suppression to some extent. The transgenerational effect should further facilitate the coexistence of the two species under scenarios of increased nitrogen input and precipitation. If we predicted these species' interspecific relationships based only on immediate environmental effects, we would overestimate S. krylovii's competitive advantage and population development, and underestimate competitive outcome and population development of A. frigida. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the transgenerational effect of maternal environment on offspring interspecific competition must be considered when evaluating population dynamics and community composition under the global change scenario.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Li
- Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi ProvinceInstitute of Botany of Shaanxi ProvinceXi’anChina
- Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical ResourcesXi’anChina
| | - Longyu Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental ChangeInstitute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Liuyi Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental ChangeInstitute of BotanyChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Ming Yue
- Xi’an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi ProvinceInstitute of Botany of Shaanxi ProvinceXi’anChina
- Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical ResourcesXi’anChina
- Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western ChinaNorthwest UniversityXi’anChina
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Footitt S, Hambidge AJ, Finch-Savage WE. Changes in phenological events in response to a global warming scenario reveal greater adaptability of winter annual compared with summer annual arabidopsis ecotypes. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2021; 127:111-122. [PMID: 32722794 PMCID: PMC7750725 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcaa141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS The impact of global warming on life cycle timing is uncertain. We investigated changes in life cycle timing in a global warming scenario. We compared Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes adapted to the warm/dry Cape Verdi Islands (Cvi), Macaronesia, and the cool/wet climate of the Burren (Bur), Ireland, Northern Europe. These are obligate winter and summer annuals, respectively. METHODS Using a global warming scenario predicting a 4 °C temperature rise from 2011 to approx. 2080, we produced F1 seeds at each end of a thermogradient tunnel. Each F1 cohort (cool and warm) then produced F2 seeds at both ends of the thermal gradient in winter and summer annual life cycles. F2 seeds from the winter life cycle were buried at three positions along the gradient to determine the impact of temperature on seedling emergence in a simulated winter life cycle. KEY RESULTS In a winter life cycle, increasing temperatures advanced flowering time by 10.1 d °C-1 in the winter annual and 4.9 d °C-1 in the summer annual. Plant size and seed yield responded positively to global warming in both ecotypes. In a winter life cycle, the impact of increasing temperature on seedling emergence timing was positive in the winter annual, but negative in the summer annual. Global warming reduced summer annual plant size and seed yield in a summer life cycle. CONCLUSIONS Seedling emergence timing observed in the north European summer annual ecotype may exacerbate the negative impact of predicted increased spring and summer temperatures on their establishment and reproductive performance. In contrast, seedling establishment of the Macaronesian winter annual may benefit from higher soil temperatures that will delay emergence until autumn, but which also facilitates earlier spring flowering and consequent avoidance of high summer temperatures. Such plasticity gives winter annual arabidopsis ecotypes a distinct advantage over summer annuals in expected global warming scenarios. This highlights the importance of variation in the timing of seedling establishment in understanding plant species responses to anthropogenic climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Footitt
- School of Life Sciences, Wellesbourne Campus, University of Warwick, Warwickshire, UK
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Boğaziçi University, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Angela J Hambidge
- School of Life Sciences, Wellesbourne Campus, University of Warwick, Warwickshire, UK
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DuBois K, Williams SL, Stachowicz JJ. Previous exposure mediates the response of eelgrass to future warming via clonal transgenerational plasticity. Ecology 2020; 101:e03169. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 04/08/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Katherine DuBois
- Department of Evolution and Ecology University of California One Shields Avenue Davis California95616USA
- Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis Bodega Bay California94923USA
| | - Susan L. Williams
- Department of Evolution and Ecology University of California One Shields Avenue Davis California95616USA
- Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis Bodega Bay California94923USA
| | - John J. Stachowicz
- Department of Evolution and Ecology University of California One Shields Avenue Davis California95616USA
- Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California Davis Bodega Bay California94923USA
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An integrative Study Showing the Adaptation to Sub-Optimal Growth Conditions of Natural Populations of Arabidopsis thaliana: A Focus on Cell Wall Changes. Cells 2020; 9:cells9102249. [PMID: 33036444 PMCID: PMC7601860 DOI: 10.3390/cells9102249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 09/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In the global warming context, plant adaptation occurs, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly described. Studying natural variation of the model plant Arabidopsisthaliana adapted to various environments along an altitudinal gradient should contribute to the identification of new traits related to adaptation to contrasted growth conditions. The study was focused on the cell wall (CW) which plays major roles in the response to environmental changes. Rosettes and floral stems of four newly-described populations collected at different altitudinal levels in the Pyrenees Mountains were studied in laboratory conditions at two growth temperatures (22 vs. 15 °C) and compared to the well-described Col ecotype. Multi-omic analyses combining phenomics, metabolomics, CW proteomics, and transcriptomics were carried out to perform an integrative study to understand the mechanisms of plant adaptation to contrasted growth temperature. Different developmental responses of rosettes and floral stems were observed, especially at the CW level. In addition, specific population responses are shown in relation with their environment and their genetics. Candidate genes or proteins playing roles in the CW dynamics were identified and will deserve functional validation. Using a powerful framework of data integration has led to conclusions that could not have been reached using standard statistical approaches.
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45
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Adrian-Kalchhauser I, Sultan SE, Shama LNS, Spence-Jones H, Tiso S, Keller Valsecchi CI, Weissing FJ. Understanding 'Non-genetic' Inheritance: Insights from Molecular-Evolutionary Crosstalk. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:1078-1089. [PMID: 33036806 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 08/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary and ecological roles of 'non-genetic' inheritance (NGI) is daunting due to the complexity and diversity of epigenetic mechanisms. We draw on insights from molecular and evolutionary biology perspectives to identify three general features of 'non-genetic' inheritance systems: (i) they are functionally interdependent with, rather than separate from, DNA sequence; (ii) precise mechanisms vary phylogenetically and operationally; and (iii) epigenetic elements are probabilistic, interactive regulatory factors and not deterministic 'epialleles' with defined genomic locations and effects. We discuss each of these features and offer recommendations for future empirical and theoretical research that implements a unifying inherited gene regulation (IGR) approach to studies of 'non-genetic' inheritance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser
- Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, Department for Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Länggassstrasse 122, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Sonia E Sultan
- Biology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA
| | - Lisa N S Shama
- Coastal Ecology Section, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Wadden Sea Station Sylt, Hafenstrasse 43, 25992 List, Germany
| | - Helen Spence-Jones
- Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews, UK
| | - Stefano Tiso
- Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Franz J Weissing
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747, AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Tariel J, Plénet S, Luquet É. Transgenerational Plasticity in the Context of Predator-Prey Interactions. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.548660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
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Morel‐Journel T, Thuillier V, Pennekamp F, Laurent E, Legrand D, Chaine AS, Schtickzelle N. A multidimensional approach to the expression of phenotypic plasticity. Funct Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Thibaut Morel‐Journel
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
| | - Virginie Thuillier
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
| | - Frank Pennekamp
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
| | - Estelle Laurent
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
| | - Delphine Legrand
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS UMR5321 Moulis France
| | - Alexis S. Chaine
- Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale du CNRS UMR5321 Moulis France
- Toulouse School of Economics Institute for Advanced Studies in Toulouse Toulouse France
| | - Nicolas Schtickzelle
- Earth and Life Institute Biodiversity Research Centre Université catholique de Louvain Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
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Abstract
AbstractEvolution of adaptation requires predictability and recurrence of functional contexts. Yet organisms live in multifaceted environments that are dynamic and ever changing, making it difficult to understand how complex adaptations evolve. This problem is particularly apparent in the evolution of adaptive maternal effects, which are often assumed to require reliable and discrete cues that predict conditions in the offspring environment. One resolution to this problem is if adaptive maternal effects evolve through preexisting, generalized maternal pathways that respond to many cues and also influence offspring development. Here, we assess whether an adaptive maternal effect in western bluebirds is influenced by maternal stress pathways across multiple challenging environments. Combining 18 years of hormone sampling across diverse environmental contexts with an experimental manipulation of the competitive environment, we show that multiple environmental factors influenced maternal corticosterone levels, which, in turn, influenced a maternal effect on aggression of sons in adulthood. Together, these results support the idea that multiple stressors can induce a known maternal effect in this system. More generally, they suggest that activation of general pathways, such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, may simplify and facilitate the evolution of adaptive maternal effects by integrating variable environmental conditions into preexisting maternal physiological systems.
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Bautista NM, Crespel A, Crossley J, Padilla P, Burggren W. Parental transgenerational epigenetic inheritance related to dietary crude oil exposure in Danio rerio. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb222224. [PMID: 32620709 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.222224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Transgenerational inheritance from both parental lines can occur by genetic and epigenetic inheritance. Maternal effects substantially influence offspring survival and fitness. However, investigation of the paternal contribution to offspring success has been somewhat neglected. In the present study, adult zebrafish were separated into female and male groups exposed for 21 days to either a control diet or to a diet containing water accommodated fractions of crude oil. Four F1 offspring groups were obtained: (1) control (non-exposed parents), (2) paternally exposed, (3) maternally exposed and (4) dual-parent-exposed. To determine the maternal and paternal influence on their offspring, we evaluated responses from molecular to whole organismal levels in both generations. Growth rate, hypoxia resistance and heart rate did not differ among parental groups. However, global DNA methylation in heart tissue was decreased in oil-exposed fish compared with control parents. This decrease was accompanied by an upregulation of glycine N-methyltransferase. Unexpectedly, maternal, paternal and dual exposure all enhanced survival of F1 offspring raised in oiled conditions. Regardless of parental exposure, however, F1 offspring exposed to oil exhibited bradycardia. Compared with offspring from control parents, global DNA methylation was decreased in the three offspring groups derived from oil-exposed parents. However, no difference between groups was observed in gene regulation involved in methylation transfer, suggesting that the changes observed in the F1 populations may have been inherited from both parental lines. Phenotypic responses during exposure to persistent environmental stressors in F1 offspring appear to be influenced by maternal and paternal exposure, potentially benefitting offspring populations to survive in challenging environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naim M Bautista
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
- Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, C. F. Møllers Alle 3, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
| | - Amélie Crespel
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Janna Crossley
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
| | - Pamela Padilla
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
| | - Warren Burggren
- Developmental Integrative Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #305220, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA
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Maternal Exposure to Ozone Modulates the Endophyte-Conferred Resistance to Aphids in Lolium multiflorum Plants. INSECTS 2020; 11:insects11090548. [PMID: 32824905 PMCID: PMC7564161 DOI: 10.3390/insects11090548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Revised: 08/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Plants are challenged by biotic and abiotic stress factors and the incidence of one can increase or decrease resistance to another. These relations can also occur transgenerationally. For instance, progeny plants whose mothers experienced herbivory can be more resistant to herbivores. Certain fungal endophytes that are vertically transmitted endow plants with alkaloids and resistance to herbivores. However, endophyte-symbiotic plants exposed to the oxidative agent ozone became susceptible to aphids. Here, we explored whether this effect persists transgenerationally. We exposed Lolium multiflorum plants with and without fungal endophyte Epichloë occultans to ozone (120 or 0 ppb), and then, challenged the progeny with aphids (Rhopalosiphum padi). The endophyte was the main factor determining the resistance to aphids, but its importance diminished in plants with ozone history. This negative ozone effect on the endophyte-mediated resistance was apparent on aphid individual weights. Phenolic compounds in seeds were increased by the symbiosis and diminished by the ozone. The endophyte effect on phenolics vanished in progeny plants while the negative ozone effect persisted. Independently of ozone, the symbiosis increased the plant biomass (≈24%). Although ozone can diminish the importance of endophyte symbiosis for plant resistance to herbivores, it would be compensated by host growth stimulation.
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