Yu Wen-Han, Zhang Li-Min, Luo Fang-Li, Yu Fei-Hai, Li Mai-He
Institute of Wetland Ecology and Clone Ecology/Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China.
School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2022 Jul 22;13:924001. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.924001. eCollection 2022.
Parental effects can influence offspring fitness, which may further impact interspecific competition. However, few studies have tested the role of clonal parental effects in regulating interspecific interactions and examined the underlying mechanisms. We conducted two consecutive experiments with two clonal plants ( and ). In the first experiment, the mother ramet of and were grown in two nutrient levels and treated with a DNA demethylation reagent (5-azacytidine) or not. In the second experiment, the offspring ramets from each of the four treatments in the first experiment were grown alone (no competition) or with a heterospecific neighbor (with interspecific competition). We found no parental nutrient effect on the competitive ability of , but a significant parental nutrient effect of both and on the competitive ability of . Furthermore, the parental nutrient effect of on the competitive ability of varied depending on the DNA methylation status of both and . These clonal parental effects were related to resource provisioning and/or DNA methylation. We conclude that clonal parental nutrient effects can regulate interspecific competition between and by altering the competitive ability of . Both resource provisioning and epigenetic mechanisms can be involved in these clonal parental effects. By regulating interspecific competition, clonal parental effects may further influence species coexistence, community structure, and ecosystem functioning.
亲本效应可以影响后代适合度，这可能会进一步影响种间竞争。然而，很少有研究测试克隆亲本效应在调节种间相互作用中的作用并探究其潜在机制。我们对两种克隆植物（ 和 ）进行了两个连续的实验。在第一个实验中， 将 和 的母分株种植在两种养分水平下，并分别用DNA去甲基化试剂（5-氮杂胞苷）处理或不处理。在第二个实验中，将第一个实验中四种处理的每个处理的后代分株单独种植（无竞争）或与异种邻居一起种植（有种间竞争）。我们发现亲本养分对 的竞争能力没有影响，但 和 的亲本养分对 的竞争能力有显著影响。此外， 对 的竞争能力的亲本养分效应因 和 的DNA甲基化状态而异。这些克隆亲本效应与资源供应和/或DNA甲基化有关。我们得出结论，克隆亲本养分效应可以通过改变 的竞争能力来调节 和 之间的种间竞争。资源供应和表观遗传机制都可能参与这些克隆亲本效应。通过调节种间竞争，克隆亲本效应可能会进一步影响物种共存、群落结构和生态系统功能。
