Developmental conditions have intergenerational effects on corticosterone levels in a passerine

Kraft, Fanny-Linn H.; Crino, Ondi L.; Buchanan, Katherine L.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105023

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…The CORT treatment had lasting effects on the morphology of the F1 birds 50 , and a similar treatment is known to have lasting (but not lifelong) effects on blood CORT levels 78 . When we examined circulating F2 CORT levels in a separate study, we found effects of paternal, but not maternal, treatment 79 . However, we also found that maternal body mass was correlated with offspring body mass and that this correlation was affected by maternal treatment 79 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…When we examined circulating F2 CORT levels in a separate study, we found effects of paternal, but not maternal, treatment 79 . However, we also found that maternal body mass was correlated with offspring body mass and that this correlation was affected by maternal treatment 79 . It is therefore possible that the effects on song learning were mediated through maternal effects on offspring growth and body condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Parental developmental experience affects vocal learning in offspring

Kraft,

Crino,

Adeniran-Obey

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Cultural and genetic inheritance combine to enable rapid changes in trait expression, but their relative importance in determining trait expression across generations is not clear. Birdsong is a socially learned cognitive trait that is subject to both cultural and genetic inheritance, as well as being affected by early developmental conditions. We sought to test whether early-life conditions in one generation can affect song acquisition in the next generation. We exposed one generation (F1) of nestlings to elevated corticosterone (CORT) levels, allowed them to breed freely as adults, and quantified their son’s (F2) ability to copy the song of their social father. We also quantified the neurogenetic response to song playback through immediate early gene (IEG) expression in the auditory forebrain. F2 males with only one corticosterone-treated parent copied their social father’s song less accurately than males with two control parents. Expression of ARC in caudomedial nidopallium (NCM) correlated with father-son song similarity, and patterns of expression levels of several IEGs in caudomedial mesopallium (CMM) in response to father song playback differed between control F2 sons and those with a CORT-treated father only. This is the first study to demonstrate that developmental conditions can affect social learning and neurogenetic responses in a subsequent generation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Parental developmental experience affects vocal learning in offspring

Kraft,

Crino,

Adeniran-Obey

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…Plasma corticosterone was determined using an enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit from ENZO Life Sciences, Inc. (Farmingdale, NY, United States), following kit instructions. This ELISA has been previously validated and used to measure plasma corticosterone in multiple songbirds including sparrows (Wada et al, 2007;Ouyang et al, 2021), wrens (Strange et al, 2016), finches (Kraft et al, 2021) and swallows (Sarpong et al, 2019). Plasma samples were diluted to fall within the range of the standard curve, generally 1:40 or 1:50, incubated with 1% steroid displacement reagent, and run in triplicate or duplicate depending on the sample volume.…”

Section: Circulating Plasma Corticosteronementioning

confidence: 99%

Clutch Abandoning Parasitised Yellow Warblers Have Increased Circulating Corticosterone With No Effect of Past Corticosterone or Differences in Egg Maculation Characteristics

et al. 2022

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Parental care can be costly to parents’ fitness. As such, abandonment of the current reproductive attempt may benefit potential future opportunities, maximising lifetime reproductive success. Obligate brood parasitism, a reproductive strategy in which parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other species and rely solely on them to raise the parasitic young, is an ideal system to study brood abandonment. Some parasitised host species have evolved anti-parasitic defences, notably clutch abandonment (egg burial and nest desertion), that may mitigate negative consequences of parasitism. Abandonment of clutches due to parasitism is not unlike abandonment of reproduction in times of stress, suggesting that host responses to parasitism could be triggered at least partly by elevated stress hormones that mediate individual decisions. Yet, the mechanistic basis for clutch abandonment remains unclear. Here, we experimentally parasitised clutches of yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia), a common host of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), with model cowbird eggs to examine whether host circulating corticosterone (CORT) differed among females that accepted parasitic eggs or rejected them through clutch abandonment. We also assessed whether feather CORT, a measure of past corticosterone exposure, differed between accepters and abandoners. Finally, we investigated whether egg visual signals, specifically differences in maculation characteristics between model cowbird and host eggs, predicted abandonment of experimentally parasitised clutches. Circulating CORT was higher in females who abandoned their parasitised clutches, but not in those who accepted, relative to controls with no egg addition. Past stress and differences in maculation characteristics did not predict whether individuals accepted or abandoned experimentally parasitised clutches. Moreover, differences in maculation characteristics between the host and model cowbird eggs did not predict CORT levels or nest abandonment. Thus, parasitism with subsequent clutch abandonment may be associated with elevated circulating CORT, but neither past stress nor differences in maculation characteristics influenced abandonment. The combination of these results contributes to our understanding of the roles of corticosterone and egg visual signals in the context of clutch abandonment in brood parasitism specifically, and of parental care more broadly.

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“…Under most circumstances, environmental stimulation causes neurological phenotypes via gene expression by acting on the epigenome. The environmental factors include chemicals ( 8 ), hormones ( 9 ), and neurotransmitters. At the embryonic stage, the maternal environment is crucial for the proper development of the nervous system of the progenies.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%