scholarly journals Which environments matter in studies of early life developmental plasticity?

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher W Kuzawa
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity

scholarly journals Precision Medicine, Developmental Plasticity and Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Wang ◽  
John Attia ◽  
Stephen Lye ◽  
Wendy Oddy ◽  
Lawrence Beilin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Lower Systolic Blood Pressure ◽  
Adult Disease ◽  
Healthy Nutrition ◽  
Non Communicable Disease

Abstract Background: It is well established that genetics, environment, and interplay between them play crucial roles in adult disease. We aimed to evaluate the role of genetics, early life nutrition, and interaction between them, on optimal adult health. Methods: As part of a large international consortium (n~154,000), we identified 60 SNPs associated with both birthweight and adult disease. Utilising the Raine Study, we developed a birthweight polygenic score (BW-PGS) based the 60 SNPs and examined relationships between BW-PGS and adulthood cardiovascular risk factors, specifically evaluating interactions with early life nutrition. Findings: Healthy nutrition was beneficial for all individuals; longer duration of any breastfeeding was associated with lower BMI and lower Systolic Blood Pressure in those with higher BW-PGS. Interpretation: Optimal breastfeeding offers the greatest benefit to reduce adult obesity and hypertension in those genetically predisposed to high birthweight. This provides an example of how precision medicine in early life can improve adult health.

scholarly journals Fluctuating environments during early development can limit adult phenotypic flexibility: insights from an amphibious fish

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (16) ◽  
pp. jeb228304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia S. Rossi ◽  
Paige V. Cochrane ◽  
Patricia A. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Locomotor Performance ◽  
Phenotypic Flexibility ◽  
Adult Fish ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Ventricle Size

ABSTRACTThe interaction between developmental plasticity and the capacity for reversible acclimation (phenotypic flexibility) is poorly understood, particularly in organisms exposed to fluctuating environments. We used an amphibious killifish (Kryptolebias marmoratus) to test the hypotheses that organisms reared in fluctuating environments (i) will make no developmental changes to suit any one environment because fixing traits to suit one environment could be maladaptive for another, and (ii) will be highly phenotypically flexible as adults because their early life experiences predict high environmental variability in the future. We reared fish under constant (water) or fluctuating (water–air) environments until adulthood and assessed a suite of traits along the oxygen cascade (e.g. neuroepithelial cell density and size, cutaneous capillarity, gill morphology, ventricle size, red muscle morphometrics, terrestrial locomotor performance). To evaluate the capacity for phenotypic flexibility, a subset of adult fish from each rearing condition was then air-exposed for 14 days before the same traits were measured. In support of the developmental plasticity hypothesis, traits involved with O2 sensing and uptake were largely unaffected by water–air fluctuations during early life, but we found marked developmental changes in traits related to O2 transport, utilization and locomotor performance. In contrast, we found no evidence supporting the phenotypic flexibility hypothesis. Adult fish from both rearing conditions exhibited the same degree of phenotypic flexibility in various O2 sensing- and uptake-related traits. In other cases, water–air fluctuations attenuated adult phenotypic flexibility despite the fact that phenotypic flexibility is hypothesized to be favoured when environments fluctuate. Overall, we conclude that exposure to environmental fluctuations during development in K. marmoratus can dramatically alter the constitutive adult phenotype, as well as diminish the scope for phenotypic flexibility in later life.

scholarly journals Can environmental conditions experienced in early life influence future generations?

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1785) ◽  
pp. 20140311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Burton ◽  
Neil B. Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Biomedical Literature ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
Early Life Conditions ◽  
Developmental Conditions ◽  
Early Developmental

The consequences of early developmental conditions for performance in later life are now subjected to convergent interest from many different biological sub-disciplines. However, striking data, largely from the biomedical literature, show that environmental effects experienced even before conception can be transmissible to subsequent generations. Here, we review the growing evidence from natural systems for these cross-generational effects of early life conditions, showing that they can be generated by diverse environmental stressors, affect offspring in many ways and can be transmitted directly or indirectly by both parental lines for several generations. In doing so, we emphasize why early life might be so sensitive to the transmission of environmentally induced effects across generations. We also summarize recent theoretical advancements within the field of developmental plasticity, and discuss how parents might assemble different ‘internal’ and ‘external’ cues, even from the earliest stages of life, to instruct their investment decisions in offspring. In doing so, we provide a preliminary framework within the context of adaptive plasticity for understanding inter-generational phenomena that arise from early life conditions.

scholarly journals Developmental plasticity in visual cortex is necessary for normal visuomotor integration and visuomotor skill learning

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix C Widmer ◽  
Georg B Keller
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Conditional Knockout ◽  
Visuomotor Integration ◽  
Visuomotor Task ◽  
Visuomotor Skills

The experience of coupling between motor output and visual feedback is necessary for the development of visuomotor skills and shapes visuomotor integration in visual cortex. Whether these experience-dependent changes involve plasticity in visual cortex remains unclear. Here, we probed the role of NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) during visuomotor development. Using a conditional knockout of NMDA receptors and a photoactivatable inhibitor of CaMKII, we locally perturbed plasticity in V1 during first visual experience, recorded neuronal activity in V1, and tested the mice in a visuomotor task. We found that perturbing plasticity before, but not after, first visuomotor experience reduces responses to unpredictable stimuli, diminishes the suppression of predictable feedback in V1, and impairs visuomotor skill learning later in life. Our results demonstrate that plasticity in the local V1 circuit during early life is critical for shaping visuomotor integration.

scholarly journals Adaptive shaping of the behavioural and neuroendocrine phenotype during adolescence

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1849) ◽  
pp. 20162784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias D. Zimmermann ◽  
Sylvia Kaiser ◽  
Michael B. Hennessy ◽  
Norbert Sachser
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Guinea Pigs ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Temporal Window ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Aggressive Phenotype ◽  
Adaptive Developmental Plasticity

Environmental conditions during early life can adaptively shape the phenotype for the prevailing environment. Recently, it has been suggested that adolescence represents an additional temporal window for adaptive developmental plasticity, though supporting evidence is scarce. Previous work has shown that male guinea pigs living in large mixed-sex colonies develop a low-aggressive phenotype as part of a queuing strategy that is adaptive for integrating into large unfamiliar colonies. By contrast, males living in pairs during adolescence become highly aggressive towards strangers. Here, we tested whether the high-aggressive phenotype is adaptive under conditions of low population density, namely when directly competing with a single opponent for access to females. For that purpose, we established groups of one pair-housed male (PM), one colony-housed male (CM) and two females. PMs directed more aggression towards the male competitor and more courtship and mating towards females than did CMs. In consequence, PMs attained the dominant position in most cases and sired significantly more offspring. Moreover, they showed distinctly higher testosterone concentrations and elevated cortisol levels, which probably promoted enhanced aggressiveness while mobilizing necessary energy. Taken together, our results provide the clearest evidence to date for adaptive shaping of the phenotype by environmental influences during adolescence.

scholarly journals Precision Medicine, Developmental Plasticity and Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A Wang ◽  
John R Attia ◽  
Stephen J Lye ◽  
Wendy H Oddy ◽  
Lawrence Beilin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Lower Systolic Blood Pressure ◽  
Adult Disease ◽  
Healthy Nutrition ◽  
Non Communicable Disease

Abstract Background: It is well established that genetics, environment, and interplay between them play a crucial role in adult disease. We aimed to evaluate the role of genetics, early life nutrition, and the interaction between them, on optimal adult health. Methods: As part of a large international consortium (n~154,000), we identified 60 SNPs associated with both birthweight and adult disease. Utilising the Raine Study, we developed a birthweight polygenic score (BW-PGS) based on the 60 SNPs and examined relationships between BW-PGS and adulthood cardiovascular risk factors, specifically evaluating interactions with early life nutrition. Findings: Healthy nutrition was beneficial for all individuals; longer duration of any breastfeeding was particularly associated with lower BMI and lower Systolic Blood Pressure in those with higher BW-PGS. Interpretation: Optimal breastfeeding offers the greatest benefit to reduce adult obesity and hypertension in those genetically predisposed to high birthweight. This provides an example of how precision medicine in early life can improve adult health.

scholarly journals Insects Provide Unique Systems to Investigate How Early-Life Experience Alters the Brain and Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca R. Westwick ◽  
Clare C. Rittschof
Keyword(s):  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Insect Behavior ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Wide Range

Early-life experiences have strong and long-lasting consequences for behavior in a surprising diversity of animals. Determining which environmental inputs cause behavioral change, how this information becomes neurobiologically encoded, and the functional consequences of these changes remain fundamental puzzles relevant to diverse fields from evolutionary biology to the health sciences. Here we explore how insects provide unique opportunities for comparative study of developmental behavioral plasticity. Insects have sophisticated behavior and cognitive abilities, and they are frequently studied in their natural environments, which provides an ecological and adaptive perspective that is often more limited in lab-based vertebrate models. A range of cues, from relatively simple cues like temperature to complex social information, influence insect behavior. This variety provides experimentally tractable opportunities to study diverse neural plasticity mechanisms. Insects also have a wide range of neurodevelopmental trajectories while sharing many developmental plasticity mechanisms with vertebrates. In addition, some insects retain only subsets of their juvenile neuronal population in adulthood, narrowing the targets for detailed study of cellular plasticity mechanisms. Insects and vertebrates share many of the same knowledge gaps pertaining to developmental behavioral plasticity. Combined with the extensive study of insect behavior under natural conditions and their experimental tractability, insect systems may be uniquely qualified to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in this field.

scholarly journals The importance of early life in childhood obesity and related diseases: a report from the 2014 Gravida Strategic Summit

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 398-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Macaulay ◽  
E. L. Donovan ◽  
M. P. Leask ◽  
F. H. Bloomfield ◽  
M. H. Vickers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Future Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Early Life Exposures

Obesity and its related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer, impose huge burdens on society, particularly the healthcare system. Until recently, public health and policy were primarily focused on secondary prevention and treatment of NCDs. However, epidemiological and experimental evidence indicates that early-life exposures influence the risk of childhood obesity and related diseases later in life, and has now focused attention on the health of both mother and child. During pregnancy and the early neonatal period, individuals respond to their environment by establishing anatomical, physiological and biochemical trajectories that shape their future health. This period of developmental plasticity provides an early window of opportunity to mitigate the environmental insults that may increase an individual’s sensitivity to, or risk of, developing obesity or related diseases later in life. Although much investigation has already occurred in the area of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research, the science itself is still in its infancy. It remains for researchers to tackle the important outstanding questions and translate their knowledge into workable solutions for the public good. The challenge, however, is to decide which areas to focus on. With these opportunities and challenges in mind, the 2014 Gravida Summit convened to examine how its early-life research program can determine which areas of research into mechanisms, biomarkers and interventions could contribute to the international research strategy to fight childhood obesity and its related diseases.

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