Clonal Transgenerational Effects Transmit for Multiple Generations in a Floating Plant

Environmental conditions of a parent plant can influence the performance of their clonal offspring,and such clonal transgenerational effects may help offspring adapt to different environments.However,it is still unclear how many vegetative generations clonal transgenerational effects can transmit for and whether it depends on the environmental conditions of the offspring.We grew the ancestor ramets of the floating clonal plant Spirodela polyrhiza under a high and a low nutrient level and obtained the so-called 1^(st)-generation offspring ramets of two types(from these two environments).Then we grew the 1^(st)-generation offspring ramets of each type under the high and the low nutrient level and obtained the so-called 2^(nd)-generation offspring ramets of four types.We repeated this procedure for another five times and analyzed clonal transgenerational effects on growth,morphology and biomass allocation of the 1^(st)-to the 6^(th)-generation offspring ramets.We found positive,negative or neutral(no)transgenerational effects of the ancestor nutrient condition on the offspring of S.polyrhiza,depending on the number of vegetative generations,the nutrient condition of the offspring environment and the traits considered.We observed significant clonal transgenerational effects on the 6^(th)-generation offspring;such effects occurred for all three types of traits(growth,morphology and allocation),but varied depending on the nutrient condition of the offspring environment and the traits considered.Our results suggest that clonal transgenerational effects can transmit for multiple vegetative generations and such impacts can vary depending on the environmental conditions of offspring.

Transgenerational phenotypic plasticity of diapause induction and related fitness cost in a commercial strain of the parasitoid Aphidius ervi Haliday

Diapause is an adaptation that insects have evolved to synchronize their life cycle with that of seasonal climatic changes and resources availability.However,cues for its induction are not always clear and,in some cases,a maternal effect may be involved.At the population level,just a part of the individuals may exhibit diapause with important consequences in terms of winter survival.Moreover,clear indicators of diapause state are difficult to identify.Diapause induction was thus investigated in the aphid parasitoid species Aphidius ervi Haliday(Hymenoptera:Braconidae)developing in the aphid Sitobion avenae(Hemiptera:Aphididae)at four crossed photothermal regimes(16℃and 8℃,16:8 h L:D and 8:16 h L:D),and during 2 successive generations.We analyzed the reliability of changes in mummy color to assess for the diapausing state compared to dissections,and we measured parasitoid morphological and physiological traits.We observed that the proportion of dark brown mummies increased after one generation under low photothermal regime compared to other regimes.No diapause was recorded at 16℃,16:8 h L:D,while we observed 16.2%and 67.5%diapause incidence at 8℃,8:16 h L:D,at 1st and 2nd generation,respectively.Diapause induction is thus increased by short day-length conditions and low temperatures as well as by maternal effects.All parasitoid life-history traits(weight,size,fat content,water content,egg-load,and longevity)were affected by the photothermal regime and/or the generation.These results raise new questions on the environmental thresholds needed to induce diapause and on survival and adaptation potential of commercially available parasitoid strains in different environments.

Research Progress of Maternal Environmental Effects in Resource-based Regions

Heavy metal pollution is common in resource-based regions.However,the morphological,physiological and biochemical mechanisms of plants transmitting environmental information to their offspring in environments polluted by heavy metals have not been studied yet.Taking soybean,an annual self-pollinated plant in Huang-Huai-Hai region,as the research object,the morphological,physiological and biochemical indexes and heavy metal enrichment and distribution characteristics of plants under heavy metal stress were monitored continuously for about three generations,and the trans-generational differences of soybean reproduction,vegetative growth,stress resistance and life cycle in heavy metal stress environment were elucidated.The results will be helpful to better understand the long-term adaptive strategy of plants to heavy metal stress and provide the theory basis for ecological security of soybean and other crops under heavy metal stress.