1
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Barrett R, Stein LR. Short-term heat waves have long-term consequences for parents and offspring in stickleback. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae036. [PMID: 38779597 PMCID: PMC11110458 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Extreme temperature events, such as heat waves, can have lasting effects on the behavior, physiology, and reproductive success of organisms. Here, we examine the impact of short-term exposure to a simulated heat wave on condition, parental care, and reproductive success in a population of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a small fish with exclusive paternal care, currently experiencing regular heat waves. Males were either exposed to a simulated heat wave (23 °C) for 5 d or held at an ideal temperature (18 °C). Following this 5-d treatment, all males were transferred to 18 °C, where they completed a full parenting cycle. Offspring were raised at 18 °C. We found that while mass and body condition were unaffected in males exposed to a heat wave, cortisol responses were dampened across the nesting cycle compared to control males. In addition, heat wave males had longer latency for eggs to hatch, lower hatching success, and showed lower levels of parental care behavior compared to control males. Offspring of heat wave males had lower body condition, affecting swimming performance. Altogether, our results highlight the long-term impact that even short-term events can have on reproductive success, parental behavior, and subsequent generations, providing insight into population responses to rapid environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Barrett
- School of Biological Sciences, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Rm 314, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States
| | - Laura R Stein
- School of Biological Sciences, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Rm 314, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States
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2
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Bellin N, Rossi V. To sleep or not to sleep: Dormancy and life history traits in Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda). JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART A, ECOLOGICAL AND INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY 2024; 341:345-356. [PMID: 38284622 DOI: 10.1002/jez.2786] [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: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Dormancy represents an investment with its own costs and benefit. Besides the advantage obtained from the avoidance of harsh environments and from the synchronization of life cycles with seasonal changes, an organism could benefit from a temporary stop in growth and reproduction. To test this hypothesis a transgenerational experiment was carried out comparing the life history traits of clonal females of Eucypris virens from resting and non-resting eggs at two different photoperiods: short day length (6:18 L:D), proxy of favorable but unpredictable late winter-spring hydroperiod, and long day length (16:8 L:D) proxy of dry predictable unfavorable season, inducing resting egg production and within-generation plasticity (WGP). Clonal females that were dormancy deprived showed the highest age at first deposition and the lowest fecundity. Dormancy seems to work as a resetting mechanism of reproduction. Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) had a bounce back pattern: the phenotype of F1 generation was influenced by cues experienced in the F0 generation but the effects of F0 exposure were not evident in the F2. TGP might be adaptive when a mother experiences some kind of seasonality or stochasticity producing both resting and nonresting eggs. A positive relationship between the number of resting eggs and the total number of eggs per females suggested the absence of trade-off between dormancy and reproduction. Both WGP and TGP increase the mother long term fitness with important consequences on population dynamics, on the way a species spread throughout space and time and might respond to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolò Bellin
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Parco Area delle Scienze, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico
| | - Valeria Rossi
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Parco Area delle Scienze, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
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3
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Walsh MR, Christian A, Feder M, Korte M, Tran K. Are parental condition transfer effects more widespread than is currently appreciated? J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb246094. [PMID: 38449326 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246094] [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] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
It has long been recognized that the environment experienced by parents can influence the traits of offspring (i.e. 'parental effects'). Much research has explored whether mothers respond to predictable shifts in environmental signals by modifying offspring phenotypes to best match future conditions. Many organisms experience conditions that theory predicts should favor the evolution of such 'anticipatory parental effects', but such predictions have received limited empirical support. 'Condition transfer effects' are an alternative to anticipatory effects that occur when the environment experienced by parents during development influences offspring fitness. Condition transfer effects occur when parents that experience high-quality conditions produce offspring that exhibit higher fitness irrespective of the environmental conditions in the offspring generation. Condition transfer effects are not driven by external signals but are instead a byproduct of past environmental quality. They are also likely adaptive but have received far less attention than anticipatory effects. Here, we review the generality of condition transfer effects and show that they are much more widespread than is currently appreciated. Condition transfer effects are observed across taxa and are commonly associated with experimental manipulations of resource conditions experienced by parents. Our Review calls for increased research into condition transfer effects when considering the role of parental effects in ecology and evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Walsh
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Anne Christian
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Mikaela Feder
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Meghan Korte
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Kevin Tran
- Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
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4
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Pettersen AK, Metcalfe NB, Seebacher F. Intergenerational plasticity aligns with temperature-dependent selection on offspring metabolic rates. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220496. [PMID: 38186279 PMCID: PMC10772613 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Metabolic rates are linked to key life-history traits that are thought to set the pace of life and affect fitness, yet the role that parents may have in shaping the metabolism of their offspring to enhance survival remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of temperature (24°C or 30°C) and feeding frequency experienced by parent zebrafish (Danio rerio) on offspring phenotypes and early survival at different developmental temperatures (24°C or 30°C). We found that embryo size was larger, but survival lower, in offspring from the parental low food treatment. Parents exposed to the warmer temperature and lower food treatment also produced offspring with lower standard metabolic rates-aligning with selection on embryo metabolic rates. Lower metabolic rates were correlated with reduced developmental and growth rates, suggesting selection for a slow pace of life. Our results show that intergenerational phenotypic plasticity on offspring size and metabolic rate can be adaptive when parent and offspring temperatures are matched: the direction of selection on embryo size and metabolism aligned with intergenerational plasticity towards lower metabolism at higher temperatures, particularly in offspring from low-condition parents. These findings provide evidence for adaptive parental effects, but only when parental and offspring environments match. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary significance of variation in metabolic rates'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda K. Pettersen
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
- School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine,, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Neil B. Metcalfe
- School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine,, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Frank Seebacher
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
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5
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Abbott JK, Lund-Hansen KK, Olito C. Why is measuring and predicting fitness under genomic conflict so hard? Curr Opin Genet Dev 2023; 81:102070. [PMID: 37369170 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2023.102070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 05/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Genomic conflict between the sexes is caused by differences in the optimal male and female reproductive strategies, and is a major contributor to genetic, phenotypic, and life history variation. While early experimental work appeared to strongly support the sexual conflict paradigm, recent work has produced more ambiguous results. Recent advances in experimental evolution studies combined with theoretical arguments can shed light on why measuring fitness under a conflict is so challenging, including the incidental alteration of mating dynamics, demographic effects, and inherent complexity in what quantity selection maximizes. We stress that non-intuitive results do not necessarily mean the absence of conflict, and follow-up experiments to determine why a priori predictions failed can ultimately teach us more than if they had been confirmed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica K Abbott
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden.
| | - Katrine K Lund-Hansen
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden. https://twitter.com/@KLundHansen
| | - Colin Olito
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62 Lund, Sweden
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6
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Halali S, Saastamoinen M. Exploring links between climatic predictability and the evolution of within- and transgenerational plasticity. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9662. [PMID: 36619708 PMCID: PMC9798148 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In variable environments, phenotypic plasticity can increase fitness by providing tight environment-phenotype matching. However, adaptive plasticity is expected to evolve only when the future selective environment can be predicted based on the prevailing conditions. That is, the juvenile environment should be predictive of the adult environment (within-generation plasticity) or the parental environment should be predictive of the offspring environment (transgenerational plasticity). Moreover, the environmental predictability can also shape transient responses such as stress response in an adaptive direction. Here, we test links between environmental predictability and the evolution of adaptive plasticity by combining time series analyses and a common garden experiment using temperature as a stressor in a temperate butterfly (Melitaea cinxia). Time series analyses revealed that across season fluctuations in temperature over 48 years are overall predictable. However, within the growing season, temperature fluctuations showed high heterogeneity across years with low autocorrelations and the timing of temperature peaks were asynchronous. Most life-history traits showed strong within-generation plasticity for temperature and traits such as body size and growth rate broke the temperature-size rule. Evidence for transgenerational plasticity, however, was weak and detected for only two traits each in an adaptive and non-adaptive direction. We suggest that the low predictability of temperature fluctuations within the growing season likely disfavors the evolution of adaptive transgenerational plasticity but instead favors strong within-generation plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sridhar Halali
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Faculty of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland,Helsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | - Marjo Saastamoinen
- Research Centre for Ecological Change, Faculty of Biological and Environmental SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland,Helsinki Institute of Life ScienceUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
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7
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Sekajova Z, Rosa E, Spagopoulou F, Zervakis P, Lind MI. Temperature‐induced compensatory growth in the nematode
C. elegans
is regulated by a thermosensitive
TRP
channel and influences reproductive rate. Funct Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.14116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zuzana Sekajova
- Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics Uppsala University 752 36 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Elena Rosa
- Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics Uppsala University 752 36 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Foteini Spagopoulou
- Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics Uppsala University 752 36 Uppsala Sweden
| | | | - Martin I. Lind
- Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics Uppsala University 752 36 Uppsala Sweden
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8
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Yin J, Lin X, Yao J, Li QQ, Zhang Y. Genotypic variation of transgenerational plasticity can be explained by environmental predictability at origins. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Junjie Yin
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen Univ. Xiamen Fujian China
| | - Xiaohe Lin
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen Univ. Xiamen Fujian China
| | - Jing Yao
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen Univ. Xiamen Fujian China
| | - Qingshun Q. Li
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen Univ. Xiamen Fujian China
- Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences, Western Univ. of Health Sciences Pomona CA USA
| | - Yuan‐Ye Zhang
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen Univ. Xiamen Fujian China
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9
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Toker IA, Lev I, Mor Y, Gurevich Y, Fisher D, Houri-Zeevi L, Antonova O, Doron H, Anava S, Gingold H, Hadany L, Shaham S, Rechavi O. Transgenerational inheritance of sexual attractiveness via small RNAs enhances evolvability in C. elegans. Dev Cell 2022; 57:298-309.e9. [PMID: 35134343 PMCID: PMC8826646 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
It is unknown whether transient transgenerational epigenetic responses to environmental challenges affect the process of evolution, which typically unfolds over many generations. Here, we show that in C. elegans, inherited small RNAs control genetic variation by regulating the crucial decision of whether to self-fertilize or outcross. We found that under stressful temperatures, younger hermaphrodites secrete a male-attracting pheromone. Attractiveness transmits transgenerationally to unstressed progeny via heritable small RNAs and the Argonaute Heritable RNAi Deficient-1 (HRDE-1). We identified an endogenous small interfering RNA pathway, enriched in endo-siRNAs that target sperm genes, that transgenerationally regulates sexual attraction, male prevalence, and outcrossing rates. Multigenerational mating competition experiments and mathematical simulations revealed that over generations, animals that inherit attractiveness mate more and their alleles spread in the population. We propose that the sperm serves as a "stress-sensor" that, via small RNA inheritance, promotes outcrossing in challenging environments when increasing genetic variation is advantageous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itai Antoine Toker
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Itamar Lev
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Yael Mor
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
| | - Yael Gurevich
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Doron Fisher
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Leah Houri-Zeevi
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Olga Antonova
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Hila Doron
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Sarit Anava
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Hila Gingold
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Lilach Hadany
- School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Shai Shaham
- Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Oded Rechavi
- Department of Neurobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences & Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
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10
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Monaco AP. The selfish environment meets the selfish gene: Coevolution and inheritance of RNA and DNA pools: A model for organismal life incorporating coevolution, horizontal transfer, and inheritance of internal and external RNA and DNA pools.: A model for organismal life incorporating coevolution, horizontal transfer, and inheritance of internal and external RNA and DNA pools. Bioessays 2022; 44:e2100239. [PMID: 34985131 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100239] [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: 10/09/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Throughout evolution, there has been interaction and exchange between RNA pools in the environment, and DNA and RNA pools of eukaryotic organisms. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing of invertebrate hosts and their microbiota has revealed a rich evolutionary history of RNA virus shuttling between species. Horizontal transfer adapted the RNA pool for successful future interactions which lead to zoonotic transmission and detrimental RNA viral pandemics like SARS-CoV2. In eukaryotes, noncoding RNA (ncRNA) is an established mechanism derived from prokaryotes to defend against viral attack through innate immunity and regulation of host-derived mRNA. Transgenerational inheritance of ncRNA is evidence for feedforward adaptive immunity and epigenetically encoded environmental change across generations, which may explain the ''missing heritability'' of common disease. Causal graph theory and the Price Equation can model epigenetic inheritance involving dynamic internal and external RNA pools. Experimental designs should include metatranscriptomic analyses to understand how ncRNA responds to rapidly changing environmental conditions, within and between organisms, and across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony P Monaco
- Office of the President, Ballou Hall, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
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11
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Kokko H. The stagnation paradox: the ever-improving but (more or less) stationary population fitness. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20212145. [PMID: 34784767 PMCID: PMC8596016 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Fisher's fundamental theorem states that natural selection improves mean fitness. Fitness, in turn, is often equated with population growth. This leads to an absurd prediction that life evolves to ever-faster growth rates, yet no one seriously claims generally slower population growth rates in the Triassic compared with the present day. I review here, using non-technical language, how fitness can improve yet stay constant (stagnation paradox), and why an unambiguous measure of population fitness does not exist. Subfields use different terminology for aspects of the paradox, referring to stasis, cryptic evolution or the difficulty of choosing an appropriate fitness measure; known resolutions likewise use diverse terms from environmental feedback to density dependence and ‘evolutionary environmental deterioration’. The paradox vanishes when these concepts are understood, and adaptation can lead to declining reproductive output of a population when individuals can improve their fitness by exploiting conspecifics. This is particularly readily observable when males participate in a zero-sum game over paternity and population output depends more strongly on female than male fitness. Even so, the jury is still out regarding the effect of sexual conflict on population fitness. Finally, life-history theory and genetic studies of microevolutionary change could pay more attention to each other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Kokko
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
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12
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Burton NO, Willis A, Fisher K, Braukmann F, Price J, Stevens L, Baugh LR, Reinke A, Miska EA. Intergenerational adaptations to stress are evolutionarily conserved, stress-specific, and have deleterious trade-offs. eLife 2021; 10:e73425. [PMID: 34622777 PMCID: PMC8570697 DOI: 10.7554/elife.73425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite reports of parental exposure to stress promoting physiological adaptations in progeny in diverse organisms, there remains considerable debate over the significance and evolutionary conservation of such multigenerational effects. Here, we investigate four independent models of intergenerational adaptations to stress in Caenorhabditis elegans - bacterial infection, eukaryotic infection, osmotic stress, and nutrient stress - across multiple species. We found that all four intergenerational physiological adaptations are conserved in at least one other species, that they are stress -specific, and that they have deleterious tradeoffs in mismatched environments. By profiling the effects of parental bacterial infection and osmotic stress exposure on progeny gene expression across species, we established a core set of 587 genes that exhibited a greater than twofold intergenerational change in expression in response to stress in C. elegans and at least one other species, as well as a set of 37 highly conserved genes that exhibited a greater than twofold intergenerational change in expression in all four species tested. Furthermore, we provide evidence suggesting that presumed adaptive and deleterious intergenerational effects are molecularly related at the gene expression level. Lastly, we found that none of the effects we detected of these stresses on C. elegans F1 progeny gene expression persisted transgenerationally three generations after stress exposure. We conclude that intergenerational responses to stress play a substantial and evolutionarily conserved role in regulating animal physiology and that the vast majority of the effects of parental stress on progeny gene expression are reversible and not maintained transgenerationally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas O Burton
- Centre for Trophoblast Research, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
- Gurdon Institute, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
- Van Andel InstituteGrand RapidsUnited States
| | - Alexandra Willis
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of TorontoTorontoCanada
| | - Kinsey Fisher
- Department of Biology, Duke UniversityDurhamUnited States
| | - Fabian Braukmann
- Gurdon Institute, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Jonathan Price
- Gurdon Institute, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Lewis Stevens
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern UniversityEvanstonUnited States
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome CampusCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - L Ryan Baugh
- Department of Biology, Duke UniversityDurhamUnited States
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke UniversityDurhamUnited States
| | - Aaron Reinke
- Department of Molecular Genetics, University of TorontoTorontoCanada
| | - Eric A Miska
- Gurdon Institute, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
- Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome CampusCambridgeUnited Kingdom
- Department of Genetics, University of CambridgeCambridgeUnited Kingdom
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13
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Ivimey-Cook E, Bricout S, Candela V, Maklakov AA, Berg EC. Inbreeding reduces fitness of seed beetles under thermal stress. J Evol Biol 2021; 34:1386-1396. [PMID: 34233049 PMCID: PMC9291971 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Human‐induced environmental change can influence populations both at the global level through climatic warming and at the local level through habitat fragmentation. As populations become more isolated, they can suffer from high levels of inbreeding, which contributes to a reduction in fitness, termed inbreeding depression. However, it is still unclear if this increase in homozygosity also results in a corresponding increase in sensitivity to stressful conditions, which could intensify the already detrimental effects of environmental warming. Here, in a fully factorial design, we assessed the life‐long impact of increased inbreeding load and elevated temperature on key life history traits in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. We found that beetles raised at higher temperatures had far reduced fitness and survival than beetles from control temperatures. Importantly, these negative effects were exacerbated in inbred beetles as a result of increased inbreeding load, with further detrimental effects manifesting on individual eclosion probability and lifetime reproductive success. These results reveal the harmful impact that increasing temperature and likelihood of habitat fragmentation due to anthropogenetic changes in environmental conditions could have on populations of organisms worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Ivimey-Cook
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Sophie Bricout
- Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Science, The American University of Paris, Paris, France
| | - Victoria Candela
- Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Science, The American University of Paris, Paris, France
| | - Alexei A Maklakov
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Elena C Berg
- Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Science, The American University of Paris, Paris, France
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14
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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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15
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Silva WTAF, Otto SP, Immler S. Evolution of plasticity in production and transgenerational inheritance of small RNAs under dynamic environmental conditions. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009581. [PMID: 34038409 PMCID: PMC8186813 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
In a changing environment, small RNAs (sRNAs) play an important role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and can vary in abundance depending on the conditions experienced by an individual (phenotypic plasticity) and its parents (non-genetic inheritance). Many sRNAs are unusual in that they can be produced in two ways, either using genomic DNA as the template (primary sRNAs) or existing sRNAs as the template (secondary sRNAs). Thus, organisms can evolve rapid plastic responses to their current environment by adjusting the amplification rate of sRNA templates. sRNA levels can also be transmitted transgenerationally by the direct transfer of either sRNAs or the proteins involved in amplification. Theory is needed to describe the selective forces acting on sRNA levels, accounting for the dual nature of sRNAs as regulatory elements and templates for amplification and for the potential to transmit sRNAs and their amplification agents to offspring. Here, we develop a model to study the dynamics of sRNA production and inheritance in a fluctuating environment. We tested the selective advantage of mutants capable of sRNA-mediated phenotypic plasticity within resident populations with fixed levels of sRNA transcription. Even when the resident was allowed to evolve an optimal constant rate of sRNA production, plastic amplification rates capable of responding to environmental conditions were favored. Mechanisms allowing sRNA transcripts or amplification agents to be inherited were favored primarily when parents and offspring face similar environments and when selection acts before the optimal level of sRNA can be reached within the organism. Our study provides a clear set of testable predictions for the evolution of sRNA-related mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity and transgenerational inheritance.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah P. Otto
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Simone Immler
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
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Kuijper B, Johnstone RA. Evolution of epigenetic transmission when selection acts on fecundity versus viability. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200128. [PMID: 33866808 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Existing theory on the evolution of parental effects and the inheritance of non-genetic factors has mostly focused on the role of environmental change. By contrast, how differences in population demography and life history affect parental effects is poorly understood. To fill this gap, we develop an analytical model to explore how parental effects evolve when selection acts on fecundity versus viability in spatio-temporally fluctuating environments. We find that regimes of viability selection, but not fecundity selection, are most likely to favour parental effects. In the case of viability selection, locally adapted phenotypes have a higher survival than maladapted phenotypes and hence become enriched in the local environment. Hence, simply by being alive, a parental phenotype becomes correlated to its environment (and hence informative to offspring) during its lifetime, favouring the evolution of parental effects. By contrast, in regimes of fecundity selection, correlations between phenotype and environment develop more slowly: this is because locally adapted and maladapted parents survive at equal rates (no survival selection), so that parental phenotypes, by themselves, are uninformative about the local environment. However, because locally adapted parents are more fecund, they contribute more offspring to the local patch than maladapted parents. In case these offspring are also likely to inherit the adapted parents' phenotypes (requiring pre-existing inheritance), locally adapted offspring become enriched in the local environment, resulting in a correlation between phenotype and environment, but only in the offspring's generation. Because of this slower build-up of a correlation between phenotype and environment essential to parental effects, fecundity selection is more sensitive to any distortions owing to environmental change than viability selection. Hence, we conclude that viability selection is most conducive to the evolution of parental effects. This article is part of the theme issue 'How does epigenetics influence the course of evolution?'
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Affiliation(s)
- Bram Kuijper
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Rufus A Johnstone
- Behaviour and Evolution Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
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Goehlich H, Sartoris L, Wagner KS, Wendling CC, Roth O. Pipefish Locally Adapted to Low Salinity in the Baltic Sea Retain Phenotypic Plasticity to Cope With Ancestral Salinity Levels. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.626442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity facilitate the migration into new habitats and enable organisms to cope with a rapidly changing environment. In contrast to genetic adaptation that spans multiple generations as an evolutionary process, phenotypic plasticity allows acclimation within the life-time of an organism. Genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity are usually studied in isolation, however, only by including their interactive impact, we can understand acclimation and adaptation in nature. We aimed to explore the contribution of adaptation and plasticity in coping with an abiotic (salinity) and a biotic (Vibriobacteria) stressor using six different populations of the broad-nosed pipefishSyngnathus typhlethat originated from either high [14–17 Practical Salinity Unit (PSU)] or low (7–11 PSU) saline environments along the German coastline of the Baltic Sea. We exposed wild caught animals, to either high (15 PSU) or low (7 PSU) salinity, representing native and novel salinity conditions and allowed animals to mate. After male pregnancy, offspring was split and each half was exposed to one of the two salinities and infected withVibrio alginolyticusbacteria that were evolved at either of the two salinities in a fully reciprocal design. We investigated life-history traits of fathers and expression of 47 target genes in mothers and offspring. Pregnant males originating from high salinity exposed to low salinity were highly susceptible to opportunistic fungi infections resulting in decreased offspring size and number. In contrast, no signs of fungal infection were identified in fathers originating from low saline conditions suggesting that genetic adaptation has the potential to overcome the challenges encountered at low salinity. Offspring from parents with low saline origin survived better at low salinity suggesting genetic adaptation to low salinity. In addition, gene expression analyses of juveniles indicated patterns of local adaptation,trans-generational plasticity and developmental plasticity. In conclusion, our study suggests that pipefish are locally adapted to the low salinity in their environment, however, they are retaining phenotypic plasticity, which allows them to also cope with ancestral salinity levels and prevailing pathogens.
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Stångberg J, Immonen E, Moreno PP, Bolund E. Experimentally induced intrasexual mating competition and sex-specific evolution in female and male nematodes. J Evol Biol 2020; 33:1677-1688. [PMID: 32945028 PMCID: PMC7756511 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13706] [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: 07/10/2020] [Revised: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Sexual dimorphism in life history traits and their trade-offs is widespread among sexually reproducing animals and is strongly influenced by the differences in reproductive strategies between the sexes. We investigated how intrasexual competition influenced specific life history traits, important to fitness and their trade-offs in the outcrossing nematode Caenorhabditis remanei. Here, we altered the strength of sex-specific selection through experimental evolution with increased potential for intrasexual competition by skewing the adult sex ratio towards either females or males (1:10 or 10:1) over 30 generations and subsequently measured the phenotypic response to selection in three traits related to fitness: body size, fecundity and tolerance to heat stress. We observed a greater evolutionary change in females than males for body size and peak fitness, suggesting that females may experience stronger net selection and potentially harbour higher amounts of standing genetic variance compared to males. Our study highlights the importance of investigating direct and indirect effects of intrasexual competition in both sexes in order to capture sex-specific responses and understand the evolution of sexual dimorphism in traits expressed by both sexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josefine Stångberg
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elina Immonen
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Pilar Puimedon Moreno
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elisabeth Bolund
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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Baugh LR, Day T. Nongenetic inheritance and multigenerational plasticity in the nematode C. elegans. eLife 2020; 9:e58498. [PMID: 32840479 PMCID: PMC7447421 DOI: 10.7554/elife.58498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
A rapidly growing body of literature in several organisms suggests that environmentally-induced adaptive changes in phenotype can be transmitted across multiple generations. Although within-generation plasticity has been well documented, multigenerational plasticity represents a significant departure from conventional evolutionary thought. Studies of C. elegans have been particularly influential because this species exhibits extensive phenotypic plasticity, it is often essentially isogenic, and it has well-documented molecular and cellular mechanisms through which nongenetic inheritance occurs. However, while experimentalists are eager to claim that nongenetic modes of inheritance characterized in this and other model systems enhance fitness, many biologists remain skeptical given the extraordinary nature of this claim. We establish three criteria to evaluate how compelling the evidence for adaptive multigenerational plasticity is, and we use these criteria to critically examine putative cases of it in C. elegans. We conclude by suggesting potentially fruitful avenues for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Ryan Baugh
- Department of Biology, Center for Genomics and Computational Biology, Duke UniversityDurhamUnited States
| | - Troy Day
- Departments of Mathematics and Statistics, Department of Biology, Queens UniversityKingstonCanada
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