School of Biology, St Andrews University, Harold Mitchell Building, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Feb 7;279(1728):523-8. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0962. Epub 2011 Jul 6.
Mothers can non-genetically influence offspring phenotype in response to environmental conditions, including mate attractiveness. If such 'maternal effects' influence the offspring's reproduction and F2 generation, there is a mechanism for non-genetic trans-generational effects on phenotype, including epigenetic phenomena, with implications for evolution and population dynamics. We demonstrate in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata such non-genetic effects on offspring fecundity and the size of early stage F2 (eggs) in response to experimentally manipulated father's attractiveness. Our experimental design allowed us to deduce that the mechanism for this non-genetic paternal effect was via maternal investment in eggs. This affected female offspring size and, consequently, fecundity and F2 (egg) size. This demonstrates that female perception of mate attractiveness can have non-genetic, trans-generational fitness consequences and this may have important implications for the evolution of sexually selected traits and population dynamics.
母亲可以在环境条件下对后代的表型产生非遗传影响，包括配偶吸引力。如果这种“母性效应”影响后代的繁殖和 F2 代，那么就存在一种非遗传的跨代表型效应机制，包括表观遗传现象，这对进化和种群动态具有重要意义。我们在斑胸草雀 Taeniopygia guttata 中证明了这种非遗传效应对后代繁殖力和早期 F2（卵）大小的影响，这是对经过实验处理的父亲吸引力的反应。我们的实验设计使我们能够推断出这种非遗传的父本效应的机制是通过母体对卵子的投资。这影响了雌性后代的大小，进而影响了繁殖力和 F2（卵）的大小。这表明，雌性对配偶吸引力的感知可能具有非遗传的、跨代的适应性后果，这可能对性选择特征的进化和种群动态具有重要意义。
