Nystrand M, Dowling D K
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Nov 7;281(1794):20141242. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.1242.
It is well established that the parental phenotype can influence offspring phenotypic expression, independent of the effects of the offspring's own genotype. Nonetheless, the evolutionary implications of such parental effects remain unclear, partly because previous studies have generally overlooked the potential for interactions between parental sources of non-genetic variance to influence patterns of offspring phenotypic expression. We tested for such interactions, subjecting male and female Drosophila melanogaster of two different age classes to an immune activation challenge or a control treatment. Flies were then crossed in all age and immune status combinations, and the reproductive success of their immune- and control-treated daughters measured. We found that daughters produced by two younger parents exhibited reduced reproductive success relative to those of other parental age combinations. Furthermore, immune-challenged daughters exhibited higher reproductive success when produced by immune-challenged relative to control-treated mothers, a pattern consistent with transgenerational immune priming. Finally, a complex interplay between paternal age and parental immune statuses influenced daughter's reproductive success. These findings demonstrate the dynamic nature of age- and immune-mediated parental effects, traceable to both parents, and regulated by interactions between parents and between parents and offspring.
众所周知，亲本表型可以影响后代的表型表达，而不受后代自身基因型的影响。然而，这种亲本效应的进化意义仍不清楚，部分原因是先前的研究通常忽略了非遗传变异的亲本来源之间相互作用对后代表型表达模式产生影响的可能性。我们对这种相互作用进行了测试，让两个不同年龄组的雄性和雌性黑腹果蝇接受免疫激活挑战或对照处理。然后将果蝇按照所有年龄和免疫状态组合进行杂交，并测量其接受免疫处理和对照处理的女儿们的繁殖成功率。我们发现，由两个较年轻亲本产生的女儿相对于其他亲本年龄组合的女儿，其繁殖成功率较低。此外，当免疫挑战的女儿由接受免疫挑战而非对照处理的母亲产生时，其繁殖成功率更高，这一模式与跨代免疫启动一致。最后，父本年龄与亲本免疫状态之间的复杂相互作用影响了女儿们的繁殖成功率。这些发现证明了年龄和免疫介导的亲本效应的动态性质，这种效应可追溯到父母双方，并受父母之间以及父母与后代之间相互作用的调节。
