Chávez Alexandra, Schreyer Anne, Prüsener Pauline, Schäfer Martin, Xu Shuqing, Huber Meret
Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, University of Mainz, Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.
Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, University of Münster, Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Plant Cell Environ. 2025 Jun;48(6):3997-4010. doi: 10.1111/pce.15406. Epub 2025 Jan 27.
Transgenerational plasticity in plants is an increasingly recognized phenomenon, yet it is mostly unclear whether transgenerational plasticity is relevant to both the fitness of the plant and its interacting species. Using monoclonal strains of the giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) and its native herbivore, the waterlily aphid (Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae), we assessed whether pre-treating plants with copper excess, both indoors and outdoors, induces transgenerational plasticity in plant defences that alter plant and herbivore fitness. Outdoors, copper pre-treatment tended to increase plant growth rates under recurring copper excess. Indoors, copper pre-treatment either increased or decreased plant growth rates under recurring conditions, depending on the plant genotype. Copper pre-treatment induced anthocyanins that protected plants against copper toxicity, and these elevated levels were transgenerationally retained. Copper pre-treatment also transgenerationally increased the levels of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), a jasmonate precursor. Nevertheless, aphids grew up to 50% better when the plants were pre-treated with copper. The increased aphid growth was likely caused by transgenerationally elevated OPDA levels, as aphids grew better when jasmonates were externally applied to plants. Taken together, this study shows that transgenerational plasticity is relevant to both plant and herbivore fitness, which highlights the role of transgenerational plasticity in plant evolution and species interactions.
植物中的跨代可塑性是一种日益受到认可的现象，但跨代可塑性是否与植物及其相互作用物种的适应性都相关，目前大多仍不清楚。我们使用巨型浮萍（紫萍）的单克隆菌株及其本土食草动物——睡莲蚜，评估了在室内和室外用过量铜对植物进行预处理，是否会在植物防御中诱导跨代可塑性，从而改变植物和食草动物的适应性。在室外，铜预处理往往会在反复出现过量铜的情况下提高植物生长速率。在室内，根据植物基因型，铜预处理在反复出现的条件下要么提高要么降低植物生长速率。铜预处理诱导了花青素的产生，这些花青素保护植物免受铜毒性影响，并且这些升高的水平会跨代保留。铜预处理还跨代提高了茉莉酸前体12-氧代-植物二烯酸（OPDA）的水平。然而，当植物用铜预处理时，蚜虫的生长速度提高了50%。蚜虫生长增加可能是由跨代升高的OPDA水平导致的，因为当向植物外部施用茉莉酸时，蚜虫生长得更好。综上所述，这项研究表明跨代可塑性与植物和食草动物的适应性都相关，这突出了跨代可塑性在植物进化和物种相互作用中的作用。
