Relationship Between Parental Big Five And Children’s Ability To Delay Gratification

The ability to delay gratification is related to success in school and other aspects of life. Genetic as well as environmental factors such as parenting style partly explain the development of delay of gratification (DoG). However, it is unclear whether parental personality impacts children’s DoG, and how maternal and paternal personalities contribute to this relationship. The present study investigates the relationship between parental personality and 45-month-old children’s DoG (N = 329). Personality was measured using the NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory-30, DoG was operationalized through waiting time in the marshmallow test. In model 1, using only maternal data to predict DoG, maternal openness to experience was associated with shorter waiting time of the child in the marshmallow test, whereas maternal agreeableness was associated with longer waiting time. In model 2, using only paternal data to predict DoG, paternal agreeableness was related to longer waiting time. In model 3, combining maternal and paternal data to predict DoG, maternal openness to experience as well as paternal agreeableness remained significant predictors of DoG. The present study underlines the influence of both parents’ personalities on the development of children’s DoG and indicates differential maternal and paternal effects. Future studies should investigate the relationship between parental personality and children’s DoG in detail and take further factors into account, such as genetic factors, other environmental factors and the personality of the child.

Morpho-phenological Variability of Flowers Traits and Hybridization of Five Inbred Lines of Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] in Côte d'Ivoire

Knowledge of the morphology and floral phenology and the mastery of a manual pollination technique in a plant species are essential for its genetic improvement. The objective of this work will be to determine the morpho-phenological characteristics of the flowers of five self-fertilization lines of cowpea and to identify an indicated manual pollination technique. The study was carried out in the Botanical Garden of University Peleforo GON COULIBALY, Côte d’Ivoire where 10 morpho-phenological characters of the flower were evaluated on five lines of cowpea self-fertilization. Thus, three manual pollination techniques (A, B and C) were tested by evaluating traits such as knotting rates, filling rates and maternal and paternal effects on fruit yields. The results revealed four stages of flower development in cowpea. These are successively stage of “floral button initiation”, “dark green floral button”, “pale green or pale-yellow floral button” and “blooming flower”. Of the three manual pollination techniques tested, technique C resulted in higher rates of knotting (45.38%) and pod filling (58.03%). Results also showed significant maternal and xenia effects on fruit yields in the cowpea. On the basis of the results generated on the floral biology of the cowpea, it appears that a hybridization program can now be conducted at the UPGC Botanical Garden for the creation of high-performance varieties adapted to climate change for the benefit of producers in Côte d’Ivoire.

Parent-of-origin effects in the life-course evolution of cardio-metabolic traits

Objective: Human traits are heritable, and some of these including metabolic and lipid phenotypes show preferential parental transmissions, or parent-of-origin effects. These have been mostly studied in populations comprising adults. We aimed to investigate heritability and parent-of-origin effects on cardiometabolic and anthropometric traits in a birth-cohort with serial measurements to assess if these effects manifested at an early age. Research design and methods: We investigated heritability and parent-of-origin effects on cardiometabolic and anthropometric traits in the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study (PMNS) wherein offspring and parents were studied from birth and followed-up for 18 years. Heritability was estimated by calculating association between mid-parental phenotypes and offspring. Maternal and paternal effects on offspring phenotype were modelled by regression after adjusting for age, sex and BMI. Parent-of-origin effects were calculated by the difference between maternal and paternal effects. Results: Anthropomorphic traits and cardiometabolic traits were robustly heritable. Parent-of-origin effects were observed for glycemic traits at both 6- and 12-years, with a paternal effect at 6-years which transitioned to a maternal effect at 12-years. For insulin and HOMA-S, a negative maternal effect transitioned to a positive one at 12-years. For HOMA-B, a paternal effect at 6- years transitioned to a maternal one at 12-years. Lipid traits consistently showed stronger maternal influence while anthropometric traits did not show any parental biases. Conclusions: Our study highlights that parental programming of cardiometabolic traits is evident from early childhood and can transition during puberty. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of underlying such effects.

Separating Paternal and Maternal Contributions to Thermal Transgenerational Plasticity

Climate change is rapidly altering the thermal environment in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Transgenerational thermal plasticity (TGP) – which occurs when the temperatures experienced by the parental generation prior to the fertilization of gametes results in a change in offspring reaction norms – may mitigate the effects of climate change. Although “maternal effects” have been widely studied, relatively little is known about TGP effects in vertebrates, particularly paternal contributions. We used artificial fertilization to cross sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) parents exposed to either low (26°C) or high (32°C) temperatures and measured growth rates of the offspring over the first 8 weeks of life at both low and high temperatures. A linear mixed effects model was employed to quantify the effects of maternal, paternal, and offspring temperatures on offspring growth and fecundity. We found that the offspring growth rate up to 63 days post-hatch was affected by both the temperature they experienced directly and parental temperatures prior to fertilization. Growth was lowest when neither parents’ temperature matched the offspring temperature, indicating a strong transgenerational effect. Notably, offspring growth was highest when all three (offspring, sire, and dam) temperatures matched [although the three-way interaction was found to be marginally non-significant (P = 0.155)], suggesting that TGP effects were additive across significant sire-offspring (P < 0.001) and dam-offspring interactions (P < 0.001). Transgenerational effects on fecundity (GSI) were suggestive for both maternal and paternal effects, but not significant. The finding that thermal TGP is contributed by both parents strongly suggests that it has an epigenetic basis.

Maternal and paternal sugar consumption interact to modify offspring life history and physiology

Intergenerational effects on offspring phenotypes occur in response to variation in both maternal and paternal nutrition. Because the combined maternal and paternal effects are rarely considered together however, their relative contributions, and the capacity for interactions between parental diets to shape offspring life history and physiology are not understood. To address this, we altered sucrose levels of adult fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) prior to mating, across two generations, producing parent-parent and parent-offspring combinations that were either matched or mismatched in dietary sucrose. We then measured lifespan, fecundity, body mass, and triglyceride levels in parents and offspring. We reveal complex non-additive interactions, that involve diets of each parent and offspring to shape offspring phenotypes, but the effects were generally not consistent with an adaptive response to parental diet. Notably, we find that interacting parental flies (sires and dams) lived longer when their sucrose treatments were matched, but they produced shorter-lived offspring.

Effects of male and female age on mating success in Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Females of most arthropods undergo multiple matings, most often with different males (polyandry) but sometimes with the same male (repeated matings). Arthropod seminal fluid contains components that are known to stimulate their fecundity and fertility. In spider mites, much is known about the paternal effects on offspring phenotypes, but nothing is known about how the age of males affects their fertility. In Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), the female offspring ratio is known to decrease with time. Here, we attempted to clarify whether the decrease is due to sperm deletion or a decrease in male fertility ability with age. Female age had significantly increase the fecundity. Older virgin females that mated with virgin males produced fewer female offspring. Female age at mating was negatively related to the mating time (= copulation time, sec) but not to the premating time (sec) after introduction of a virgin male. The mating time tended to decrease with increasing age at mating. Male fertility defined as the proportion of female offspring produced, and male fertility declines with male age and number of matings, even no female offspring produced in some cases. These results suggest that increased male age at mating is associated with sperm depletion, which in turn affects the number of progeny as well as the phenotype of the progeny in the subsequent generation.

Short-term diet intervention alters the small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) landscape of human sperm

Offspring health outcomes are often linked with epigenetic alterations triggered by maternal nutrition and intrauterine environment. Strong experimental data also link paternal preconception nutrition with pathophysiology in the offspring, but the mechanism(s) routing the effects of paternal exposures remain elusive. Animal experimental models have highlighted small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) as potential regulators of paternal effects, though less is known about the existence of similar mechanisms in human sperm. Here, we first characterised the baseline sncRNA landscape of human sperm, and then studied the effects of a 6-week diet intervention on their expression profile. Baseline profiling identified tRFs, miRNAs and piRNAs to be the most abundant sncRNA subtypes, primarily expressed from regulatory elements like UTRs, CpG-rich regions and promoters. Expression of a subset of these sncRNAs varied with age, BMI and sperm quality of the donor. Diet intervention enriched in vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids showed a marked increase of these nutrients in circulation and altered the sperm sncRNA expression. These included 3 tRFs, 15 miRNAs and 112 piRNAs, with gene targets involved in fatty acid metabolism, vitamin D response (LXR/RXR activation, TGF-beta and Wnt signaling), and transposable elements. These findings provide evidence that human sperms are sensitive to alterations in exposures such as diet, and sncRNAs capture the epigenetic imprint of this change. Hence changes to paternal nutrition during preconception may improve sperm quality and offspring health outcomes. To benefit future research, we developed iDad_DB, an open access database of baseline and diet-altered sncRNA in human male germline.