scholarly journals Comparison of infinitesimal and finite locus models for long-term breeding simulations with direct and maternal effects at the example of honeybees

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. e0213270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Plate ◽  
Richard Bernstein ◽  
Andreas Hoppe ◽  
Kaspar Bienefeld
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Finite Locus

scholarly journals Effect of the early-life nutritional environment on fecundity and fertility of mammals

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1534) ◽  
pp. 3419-3427 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Gardner ◽  
S. E. Ozanne ◽  
K. D. Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Genetic Constitution ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Nutritional Environment ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Developmental Windows

The early-life developmental environment is instrumental in shaping our overall adult health and well-being. Early-life diet and endocrine exposure may independently, or in concert with our genetic constitution, induce a pathophysiological process that amplifies with age and leads to premature morbidity and mortality. Recently, this has become known as ‘programming’ but is akin to ‘maternal effects’ described for many years in the biological sciences and is defined as any influence that acts during critical developmental windows to induce long-term changes in the organisms' phenotype. To date, such delayed maternal effects have largely been characterized in terms of susceptibility to cardiovascular or metabolic disease. Here, we review evidence from experimental animal species, non-human primates and man for an effect of the early-life nutritional environment on adult fecundity and fertility. In addition, using a database of pedigree sheep, we also specifically test the hypothesis that being born small for gestational age with or without post-natal growth acceleration directly programmes fertility. We conclude that there is a lack of compelling evidence to suggest pre-natal undernutrition may directly reduce adult fecundity and fertility, but may exert some effects secondarily via an increased incidence of ‘metabolic syndrome’. Possible effects of being born relatively large on subsequent fecundity and fertility warrant further investigation.

scholarly journals What kind of maternal effects are selected for in fluctuating environments?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R Proulx ◽  
Henrique Teotonio
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Bet Hedging ◽  
Alternative Phenotypes ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
Small Set ◽  
The One ◽  
Maternal Strategy

Adaptation to temporally fluctuating environments can be achieved through direct phenotypic evolution, by phenotypic plasticity (either developmental plasticity or trans-generational plasticity), or by randomizing offspring phenotypes (often called diversifying bet-hedging). Theory has long held that plasticity can evolve when information about the future environment is reliable while bet-hedging can evolve when mixtures of phenotypes have high average fitness (leading to low among generation variance in fitness). To date, no study has studied the evolutionary routes that lead to the evolution of randomized offspring phenotypes on the one hand or deterministic maternal effects on the other. We develop simple, yet general, models of the evolution of maternal effects and are able to directly compare selection for deterministic and randomizing maternal effects and can also incorporate the notion of differential maternal costs of producing offspring with alternative phenotypes. We find that only a small set of parameters allow bet hedging type strategies to outcompete deterministic maternal effects. Not only must there be little or no informative cues available, but also the frequency with which different environments are present must fall within a narrow range. By contrast, when we consider the joint evolution of the maternal strategy and the set of offspring phenotypes we find that deterministic maternal effects can always invade the ancestral state (lacking any form of maternal effect). The long-term ESS may, however, involve some form of offspring randomization, but only if the phenotypes evolve extreme differences in environment-specific fitness. Overall we conclude that deterministic maternal effects are much more likely to evolve than offspring randomization, and offspring randomization will only be maintained if it results in extreme differences in environment-specific fitness.

scholarly journals Maternally derived hormones, neurosteroids and the development of behaviour

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1943) ◽  
pp. 20202467
Author(s):  
James C. Mouton ◽  
Renée A. Duckworth
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Developmental Neurobiology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Behavioural Phenotypes ◽  
Mechanistic Understanding

In a wide range of taxa, there is evidence that mothers adaptively shape the development of offspring behaviour by exposing them to steroids. These maternal effects have major implications for fitness because, by shaping early development, they can permanently alter how offspring interact with their environment. However, theory on parent–offspring conflict and recent physiological studies showing that embryos rapidly metabolize maternal steroids have placed doubt on the adaptive significance of these hormone-mediated maternal effects. Reconciling these disparate perspectives requires a mechanistic understanding of the pathways by which maternal steroids can influence neural development. Here, we highlight recent advances in developmental neurobiology and psychiatric pharmacology to show that maternal steroid metabolites can have direct neuro-modulatory effects potentially shaping the development of neural circuitry underlying ecologically relevant behavioural traits. The recognition that maternal steroids can act through a neurosteroid pathway has critical implications for our understanding of the ecology and evolution of steroid-based maternal effects. Overall, compared to the classic view, a neurosteroid mechanism may reduce the evolutionary lability of hormone-mediated maternal effects owing to increased pleiotropic constraints and frequently influence long-term behavioural phenotypes in offspring.

New-onset hypertension in pregnancy: a review of the long-term maternal effects

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Green ◽  
Pamela Loughna ◽  
Fiona Broughton Pipkin
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Hypertension In Pregnancy ◽  
In Pregnancy ◽  
New Onset

Post-lambing maternal effects in hair ewes fed omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the late gestation

2020 ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Ulises Macías- Cruz ◽  
Ricardo Vicente-Pérez ◽  
M. Mellado ◽  
Cesar A. Meza-Herrera ◽  
Carlos Luna-Palomera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Late Gestation ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Omega 6 ◽  
Inclusion Level

Soybean oil (SBO) is rich in omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and its dietary supplementation during late gestation to ewes improves colostrum production and lamb pre-weaning growth; however, little is known about the long-term maternal effects after lambing. So, aim was to determine the effects of dietary inclusion level of SBO (0 [control], 30 and 60 g kg-1 dry matter) during late pregnancy on udder size, milk secretion, and dam metabolism during the first 60 d post-lambing. Thirty Katahdin x Pelibuey multiparous ewes (100 d of gestation) were blocked and randomly assigned within each block to three treatments. After lambing, ewes were fed the same lactation diet until 60 d post-lambing and study variables were measured on this period every 10 d. Solids non-fat in milk from control ewes were lower at day 10 and greater at day 20 compared to milk from SBO-fed ewes, although opposite effects were observed for lactose content on those days. Udder volume, depth and width increased linearly as the SBO level increased. Body status, physiological variables, milk production and serum analyte concentrations were unaffected by SBO. It was concluded that feeding hair ewes in late gestation with diets including SBO improves udder size, and solids non-fat and lactose content in milk, without affecting dam metabolism, during the post-lambing period.

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