Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Cell Rep. 2018 Apr 3;23(1):156-171. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.03.015.
Environmental stress can induce adult reproductive diapause, a state of developmental arrest that temporarily suspends reproduction. Deficiency for C. elegans Piwi protein PRG-1 results in strains that reproduce for many generations but then become sterile. We found that sterile-generation prg-1/Piwi mutants typically displayed pronounced germ cell atrophy as L4 larvae matured into 1-day-old adults. Atrophied germlines spontaneously reproliferated across the first days of adulthood, and this was accompanied by fertility for day 2-4 adults. Sterile day 5 prg-1 mutant adults remained sterile indefinitely, but providing an alternative food source could restore their fertility. Our data imply that late-generation prg-1 mutants experience a dynamic form of adult reproductive diapause, promoted by stress response, cell death, and RNAi pathways, where delayed fertility and reproductive quiescence represent parallel adaptive developmental outcomes. This may occur in response to a form of "heritable stress" that is transmitted by gametes and epigenetic in nature.
环境压力会诱导成年生殖暂停，这是一种暂时停止繁殖的发育停滞状态。秀丽隐杆线虫 Piwi 蛋白 PRG-1 的缺失会导致连续多代繁殖但随后变得不育的品系。我们发现，在成熟为 1 天龄成虫的 L4 幼虫中，不育代 prg-1/Piwi 突变体通常表现出明显的生殖细胞萎缩。在成虫期的头几天，萎缩的生殖系会自发地增殖，同时 2-4 天龄的成虫会恢复生育能力。不育的第 5 天 prg-1 突变体成虫会无限期地不育，但提供替代食物来源可以恢复它们的生育能力。我们的数据表明，晚期 prg-1 突变体经历了一种动态的成年生殖暂停形式，这是由应激反应、细胞死亡和 RNAi 途径所促进的，其中延迟的生育能力和生殖静止代表了平行的适应性发育结果。这可能是对通过配子传递和具有表观遗传性质的“可遗传应激”的一种反应。
