Cross-Generational Effects and Non-random Developmental Response to Temperature Variation in Paramecium.

ABSTRACT: Unicellular organisms such as ciliates are largely neglected in research on adaptive developmental plasticity, although their nuclear dualism offers ideal circumstances to study development outside an embryonic context. Here, we gain first insights into the ability of the ciliate Paramecium to develop potentially adaptive phenotypic changes in response to early-life adversity. We show that, upon exposure to unconventional culture temperatures, germ line-to-soma differentiation gives rise to coordinated molecular changes that may help attune the number of functional gene copies to the new external conditions. The non-random somatic heterogeneity that developmental plasticity generates is largely epigenetically controlled, shaped by the parental experience, and may prompt a stress res

SUBMITTER: Hagen R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7606892 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature