Transgenerational inheritance of cold temperature response in Drosophila

Abstract

Intergenerational inheritance of transcriptional responses induced by low temperature rearing has recently been shown in Drosophila. Besides germline inheritance, fecal transfer experiments indirectly suggested that the acquired microbiome may also have contributed to the transcriptional responses in offspring. Here, we analyze expression data on inheritance of the cold‐induced effects in conjunction with previously reported transcriptomic differences between flies with a microbiota or axenic flies and provide support for a contribution of the acquired microbiome to the offspring phenotype. Also, based on a similar analysis in conjunction with diet‐ and metabolism‐related fly transcriptome data, we predicted and, then, experimentally confirmed that cold regulates triglyceride levels both inter‐ as well as trans‐generationally.

Sex-Dependent Cold Tolerance at the Northern Invasive Range Limit of Gambusia affinis on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

“…between Quashnet and other mosquitofish are due only to plasticity associated with experimental acclimation. Therefore, genetic evolution is more likely an explanation for the extreme cold tolerance of Quashnet mosquitofish, potential-ly including genetic evolution of plastic capacity or epigenetic inheritance of cold tolerance (Bonduriansky et al, 2012;Slotsbo et al, 2016;Scheepens et al, 2018;Karunakar et al, 2019). Furthermore, enhanced cold tolerance in Quashnet mosquitofish is unlikely simply due to size, as even our smallest females had lower extrapolated LT50s than any reported literature value (Figs.…”

Integrative genomic analysis unifying epigenetic inheritance in adaptation and canalization

“…The environmental factors associated with these three models included high-sugar diet (HSD), the neuroactive compound pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), and cold exposure (CE). Though F2 phenotype is minimally required to demonstrate germline mediated inheritance, the study that was restricted to F1 only, the CE model, was also included in the analysis since biochemical level F2 effect has been demonstrated (Karunakar et al, 2019) in CE induced inheritance. For uniformity, differentially expressed genes in parent (F0) and offspring (F1) were used in the analysis.…”

Transient Administration of Dopaminergic Precursor Causes Inheritable Overfeeding Behavior in Young Drosophila melanogaster Adults

“…Additionally, recent reports show that neurological and psychiatric conditions have a persistent impact on the following generations [13]. In Drosophila, exposure to factors such as stress or misbalanced nutrition in adults have also been shown to prompt a range of transgenerational behavioral effects, such as changes in ethanol preference [14], cold-temperature response [15], oviposition choice [16], and obesity-like phenotypes [17].…”