Transgenerational Effects of Extended Dauer Diapause on Starvation Survival and Gene Expression Plasticity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic plasticity is facilitated by epigenetic regulation, and remnants of such regulation may persist after plasticity-inducing cues are gone. However, the relationship between plasticity and transgenerational epigenetic memory is not understood. Dauer diapause in Caenorhabditis elegans provides an opportunity to determine how a plastic response to the early-life environment affects traits later in life and in subsequent generations. We report that, after extended diapause, postdauer worms initially exhibit reduced reproductive success and greater interindividual variation. In contrast, F3 progeny of postdauers display increased starvation resistance and lifespan, revealing potentially adaptive transgenerational effects. Transgenerational effects are dependent on the duration o

SUBMITTER: Webster AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6116965 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature