scholarly journals Transgenerational non-genetic inheritance has fitness costs and benefits under recurring stress in the clonal duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1955) ◽  
pp. 20211269
Author(s):  
Meret Huber ◽  
Saskia Gablenz ◽  
Martin Höfer
Keyword(s):  
Clonal Plant ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Spirodela Polyrhiza ◽  
Transgenerational Plasticity ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Offspring Fitness ◽  
Copper Excess ◽  
Dependent Growth

Although non-genetic inheritance is thought to play an important role in plant ecology and evolution, evidence for adaptive transgenerational plasticity is scarce. Here, we investigated the consequences of copper excess on offspring defences and fitness under recurring stress in the duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza across multiple asexual generations . Growing large monoclonal populations (greater than 10 000 individuals) for 30 generations under copper excess had negative fitness effects after short and no fitness effect after prolonged growth under recurring stress. These time-dependent growth rates were likely influenced by environment-induced transgenerational responses, as propagating plants as single descendants for 2 to 10 generations under copper excess had positive, negative or neutral effects on offspring fitness depending on the interval between initial and recurring stress (5 to 15 generations). Fitness benefits under recurring stress were independent of flavonoid accumulations, which in turn were associated with altered plant copper concentrations. Copper excess modified offspring fitness under recurring stress in a genotype-specific manner, and increasing the interval between initial and recurring stress reversed these genotype-specific fitness effects. Taken together, these data demonstrate time- and genotype-dependent adaptive and non-adaptive transgenerational responses under recurring stress, which suggests that non-genetic inheritance alters the evolutionary trajectory of clonal plant lineages in fluctuating environments.

scholarly journals A clonal fresh water plants acquires transgenerational stress resistance under recurring copper excess

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meret Huber ◽  
Saskia Gablenz ◽  
Martin Höfer
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Plant Ecology ◽  
Copper Accumulation ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Spirodela Polyrhiza ◽  
Transgenerational Plasticity ◽  
Copper Excess ◽  
Water Plants

ABSTRACTAlthough non-genetic inheritance is thought to play an important role in plant ecology and evolution, evidence for adaptive transgenerational plasticity is scarce. Here, we investigated the consequences of copper excess on offspring defences and fitness in the giant duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) across multiple asexual generations. We found that exposing large monoclonal populations (>10,000 individuals) for 30 generations to copper excess decreased plant fitness during the first few generations but increased their fitness in consecutive generations under recurring stress when plants were grown for 5 generations under control conditions prior recurring conditions. Similarly, propagating individual plants as single descendants for 5 or 10 generations under copper excess decreased plant fitness when 5 generations and improved plant fitness when 10 generations passed between initial and recurring stress; thus, transgenerational stress responses likely contributed to the observed variations in offspring fitness of long-term copper exposed populations. Fitness benefits under recurring stress were partially associated with avoidance of excessive copper accumulation, which in turn correlated with transgenerationally modified flavonoid concentrations. Taken together, these data demonstrate time-dependent adaptive transgenerational responses under recurring stress, which highlights the importance of non-genetic inheritance for plant ecology and evolution.

scholarly journals Inference of distribution of fitness effects and proportion of adaptive substitutions from polymorphism data

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Tataru ◽  
Maéva Mollion ◽  
Sylvain Glemin ◽  
Thomas Bataillon
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Probabilistic Framework ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Beneficial Mutations ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Polymorphism Data ◽  
Inference Methods ◽  
Biased Estimates

ABSTRACTThe distribution of fitness effects (DFE) encompasses deleterious, neutral and beneficial mutations. It conditions the evolutionary trajectory of populations, as well as the rate of adaptive molecular evolution (α). Inference of DFE and α from patterns of polymorphism (SFS) and divergence data has been a longstanding goal of evolutionary genetics. A widespread assumption shared by numerous methods developed so far to infer DFE and α from such data is that beneficial mutations contribute only negligibly to the polymorphism data. Hence, a DFE comprising only deleterious mutations tends to be estimated from SFS data, and α is only predicted by contrasting the SFS with divergence data from an outgroup. Here, we develop a hierarchical probabilistic framework that extends on previous methods and also can infer DFE and α from polymorphism data alone. We use extensive simulations to examine the performance of our method. We show that both a full DFE, comprising both deleterious and beneficial mutations, and α can be inferred without resorting to divergence data. We demonstrate that inference of DFE from polymorphism data alone can in fact provide more reliable estimates, as it does not rely on strong assumptions about a shared DFE between the outgroup and ingroup species used to obtain the SFS and divergence data. We also show that not accounting for the contribution of beneficial mutations to polymorphism data leads to substantially biased estimates of the DFE and α. We illustrate these points using our newly developed framework, while also comparing to one of the most widely used inference methods available.

Constraints Imposed by a Natural Landscape Override Offspring Fitness Effects to Shape Oviposition Decisions in Wild Forked Fungus Beetles

2018 ◽  
Vol 191 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corlett W. Wood ◽  
Eric W. Wice ◽  
Jill del Sol ◽  
Sarah Paul ◽  
Brian J. Sanderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Offspring Fitness

scholarly journals Gene drive for population genetic control: non-functional resistance and parental effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1914) ◽  
pp. 20191586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea K. Beaghton ◽  
Andrew Hammond ◽  
Tony Nolan ◽  
Andrea Crisanti ◽  
Austin Burt
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetic ◽  
Natural Process ◽  
Target Sequence ◽  
Gene Drive ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Offspring Fitness ◽  
Fertility Gene ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Genetic Modelling ◽  
The Impact

Gene drive is a natural process of biased inheritance that, in principle, could be used to control pest and vector populations. As with any form of pest control, attention should be paid to the possibility of resistance evolving. For nuclease-based gene drive aimed at suppressing a population, resistance could arise by changes in the target sequence that maintain function, and various strategies have been proposed to reduce the likelihood that such alleles arise. Even if these strategies are successful, it is almost inevitable that alleles will arise at the target site that are resistant to the drive but do not restore function, and the impact of such sequences on the dynamics of control has been little studied. We use population genetic modelling of a strategy targeting a female fertility gene to demonstrate that such alleles may be expected to accumulate, and thereby reduce the reproductive load on the population, if nuclease expression per se causes substantial heterozygote fitness effects or if parental (especially paternal) deposition of nuclease either reduces offspring fitness or affects the genotype of their germline. All these phenomena have been observed in synthetic drive constructs. It will, therefore, be important to allow for non-functional resistance alleles in predicting the dynamics of constructs in cage populations and the impacts of any field release.

scholarly journals Fitness Effects of Somatic Mutations Accumulating during Vegetative Growth

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell B. Cruzan ◽  
Matthew A. Streisfeld ◽  
Jaime A. Schwoch
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Somatic Mutation ◽  
Vegetative Growth ◽  
Somatic Mutations ◽  
Life Form ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Mimulus Guttatus ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Fitness Effects ◽  
Offspring Fitness

AbstractThe unique life form of plants promotes the accumulation of somatic mutations that can be passed to offspring in the next generation, because the same meristem cells responsible for vegetative growth also generate gametes for sexual reproduction. However, little is known about the consequences of somatic mutation accumulation for offspring fitness. We evaluate the fitness effects of somatic mutations in Mimulus guttatus by comparing progeny from self-pollinations made within the same flower (autogamy) to progeny from self-pollinations made between stems on the same plant (geitonogamy). The effects of somatic mutations are evident from this comparison, as autogamy leads to homozygosity of a proportion of somatic mutations, but progeny from geitonogamy remain heterozygous for mutations unique to each stem. In two different experiments, we find consistent fitness effects of somatic mutations from individual stems. Surprisingly, several progeny groups from autogamous crosses displayed increases in fitness compared to progeny from geitonogamy crosses, indicating that beneficial somatic mutations were prevalent in some stems. These results support the hypothesis that somatic mutations accumulate during vegetative growth, but they are filtered by different forms of selection that occur throughout development, resulting in the culling of expressed deleterious mutations and the retention of beneficial mutations.

Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cherry Picking ◽  
Dichotomous Thinking

Abstract The argument against innatism at the heart of Cognitive Gadgets is provocative but premature, and is vitiated by dichotomous thinking, interpretive double standards, and evidence cherry-picking. I illustrate my criticism by addressing the heritability of imitation and mindreading, the relevance of twin studies, and the meaning of cross-cultural differences in theory of mind development. Reaching an integrative understanding of genetic inheritance, plasticity, and learning is a formidable task that demands a more nuanced evolutionary approach.

Invasive Plant Ecology

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-213
Author(s):  
E. K. Espeland
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Plant Ecology

The All-Russian conference «Development of Geobotany: History and Present» (Saint Petersburg, 31 January—2 February 2011)

2011 ◽  
pp. 93-97
Author(s):  
O. I. Sumina
Keyword(s):  
Plant Ecology ◽  
State University ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Russian Conference

From 31 January to 2 February 2011 in St. Petersburg state University was held All-Russian conference "Development of geobotany: history and modernity" devoted to the 80 anniversary of the Department of geobotany and plant ecology of St. Petersburg state University and anniversaries of its teachers.

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