Time-critical influences of gestational diet in a seahorse model of male pregnancy.

ABSTRACT: Sex role reversal is not uncommon in the animal kingdom but is taken to the extreme by the Syngnathidae, in which male pregnancy is one of the most astonishing idiosyncrasies. However, critical and time-dependent environmental effects on developing embryos, such as those extensively studied in mammalian pregnancy, have not been investigated in the male pregnancy context. Here, we tested the hypothesis that seahorse pregnancy is subject to 'critical windows' of environmental sensitivity by feeding male long-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus reidi) a diet deficient in polyunsaturated fatty acids during specific periods before and during pregnancy. Despite embryos being nourished principally by maternally supplied yolk, we found that offspring morphology, fatty acid composition and gene e

SUBMITTER: Otero-Ferrer F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7033721 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature