Abstract
BackgroundPhenotypic plasticity operates across generations, when the parental environment affects phenotypic expression in the offspring. Recent studies in invertebrates have reported transgenerational plasticity in phenotypic responses of offspring when the mothers had been previously exposed to either live or heat-killed pathogens. Understanding whether this plasticity is adaptive requires a factorial design in which both mothers and their offspring are subjected to either the pathogen challenge or a control, in experimentally matched and mismatched combinations. Most prior studies exploring the capacity for pathogen-mediated transgenerational plasticity have, however, failed to adopt such a design. Furthermore, it is currently poorly understood whether the magnitude or direction of pathogen-mediated transgenerational responses will be sensitive to environmental heterogeneity. Here, we explored the transgenerational consequences of a dual pathogen and stress challenge administered in the maternal generation in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Prospective mothers were assigned to a non-infectious pathogen treatment consisting of an injection with heat-killed bacteria or a procedural control, and a stress treatment consisting of sleep deprivation or control. Their daughters and sons were similarly assigned to the same pathogen treatment, prior to measurement of their reproductive success.ResultsWe observed transgenerational interactions involving pathogen treatments of mothers and their offspring, on the reproductive success of daughters but not sons. These interactions were unaffected by sleep deprivation.ConclusionsThe direction of the transgenerational effects was not consistent with that predicted under a scenario of adaptive transgenerational plasticity. Instead, they were indicative of expectations based on terminal investment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0737-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Phenotypic plasticity operates across generations, when the parental environment affects phenotypic expression in the offspring
Such designs have successfully been adopted in a range of taxa; a classic example includes a study of seed beetles (Stator limbatus), in which eggs that were deposited in the same environment as that experienced by the mother had greater survival than eggs that were deposited in a novel environment [9]
We screened for pathogen-mediated adaptive transgenerational plasticity in a population of D. melanogaster, and investigated whether such effects were modified by an additional maternal stress administered via sleep deprivation
Summary
Phenotypic plasticity operates across generations, when the parental environment affects phenotypic expression in the offspring. Conclusive evidence for Nystrand et al BMC Evolutionary Biology (2016) 16:171 adaptive transgenerational plasticity can only be provided by studies that experimentally manipulate parental environments pre-reproduction, and subsequently manipulate environments of the offspring, thereby either matching or mis-matching maternal and offspring environmental conditions [3, 8] Such designs have successfully been adopted in a range of taxa; a classic example includes a study of seed beetles (Stator limbatus), in which eggs that were deposited in the same environment as that experienced by the mother had greater survival than eggs that were deposited in a novel environment [9]. There are a range of studies that have failed to find evidence for adaptive transgenerational plasticity [3, 12,13,14], and a recent meta-analysis concluded that there was only weak evidence for adaptive transgenerational plasticity across natural populations of plants and animals [8]
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