Multigenerational Effects

Roberts, A. J.; Hay, El Hamidi

doi:10.1016/j.cvfa.2019.02.009

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…It is determined by the genotype of an organism, and by the growing environment, but precisely predicting the actual outcome for a particular individual is still a challenge ( Burga and Lehner, 2012 ). The idea that phenotype changes caused by environmental alterations can be passed to next generations has existed for centuries ( Roberts and Hay, 2019 ) but only in recent decades the advances in epigenetics knowledge gave us insights to the underlying mechanism of how environment affects the phenotype of an organism. In this review, we will discuss the parental epigenetic effects on programming in gametes and embryos, mainly focusing on dairy cattle.…”

Section: Epigenetics: a New Measure Of The Effects Of The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Effects on Epigenetic Programming in Gametes and Embryos of Dairy Cows

Sirard

2020

Front. Genet.

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The bovine represents an important agriculture species and dairy breeds have experienced intense genetic selection over the last decades. The selection of breeders focused initially on milk production, but now includes feed efficiency, health, and fertility, although these traits show lower heritability. The non-genetic paternal and maternal effects on the next generation represent a new research topic that is part of epigenetics. The evidence for embryo programming from both parents is increasing. Both oocytes and spermatozoa carry methylation marks, histones modifications, small RNAs, and chromatin state variations. These epigenetic modifications may remain active in the early zygote and influence the embryonic period and beyond. In this paper, we review parental non-genetic effects retained in gametes on early embryo development of dairy cows, with emphasis on parental age (around puberty), the metabolism of the mother at the time of conception and in vitro culture (IVC) conditions. In our recent findings, transcriptomic signatures and DNA methylation patterns of blastocysts and gametes originating from various parental and IVC conditions revealed surprisingly similar results. Embryos from all these experiments displayed a metabolic signature that could be described as an “economy” mode where protein synthesis is reduced, mitochondria are considered less functional. In the absence of any significant phenotype, these results indicated a possible similar adaptation of the embryo to younger parental age, post-partum metabolic status and IVC conditions mediated by epigenetic factors.

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Section: Epigenetics: a New Measure Of The Effects Of The Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Effects on Epigenetic Programming in Gametes and Embryos of Dairy Cows

Sirard

2020

Front. Genet.

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“…Our understanding of epigenetics and epigenetic inheritance has burgeoned in recent years-for an entry into the literature see (Janssen et al, 2017;Eirin-Lopez and Putnam, 2019;Roberts and Hay, 2019;Sarkies, 2019;Walker and Burggren, 2020a;Safi-Stibler and Gabory, 2020). Modification of the epigenome and its influence on phenotype within an individual's lifespan has been extensively studied in the context of topics as diverse as preventing/treating human disease (Lin et al, 2023;Paccosi and Proietti-De-Santis, 2023;Sum and Brewer, 2023) to enhancing agricultural production (Feng et al, 2023;Louis et al, 2023;Wang et al, 2023).…”

Section: Epigenetic Inheritancementioning

confidence: 99%

“Bet hedging” against climate change in developing and adult animals: roles for stochastic gene expression, phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic inheritance and adaptation

Burggren,

Mendez-Sanchez

2023

Front. Physiol.

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Animals from embryos to adults experiencing stress from climate change have numerous mechanisms available for enhancing their long-term survival. In this review we consider these options, and how viable they are in a world increasingly experiencing extreme weather associated with climate change. A deeply understood mechanism involves natural selection, leading to evolution of new adaptations that help cope with extreme and stochastic weather events associated with climate change. While potentially effective at staving off environmental challenges, such adaptations typically occur very slowly and incrementally over evolutionary time. Consequently, adaptation through natural selection is in most instances regarded as too slow to aid survival in rapidly changing environments, especially when considering the stochastic nature of extreme weather events associated with climate change. Alternative mechanisms operating in a much shorter time frame than adaptation involve the rapid creation of alternate phenotypes within a life cycle or a few generations. Stochastic gene expression creates multiple phenotypes from the same genotype even in the absence of environmental cues. In contrast, other mechanisms for phenotype change that are externally driven by environmental clues include well-understood developmental phenotypic plasticity (variation, flexibility), which can enable rapid, within-generation changes. Increasingly appreciated are epigenetic influences during development leading to rapid phenotypic changes that can also immediately be very widespread throughout a population, rather than confined to a few individuals as in the case of favorable gene mutations. Such epigenetically-induced phenotypic plasticity can arise rapidly in response to stressors within a generation or across a few generations and just as rapidly be “sunsetted” when the stressor dissipates, providing some capability to withstand environmental stressors emerging from climate change. Importantly, survival mechanisms resulting from adaptations and developmental phenotypic plasticity are not necessarily mutually exclusive, allowing for classic “bet hedging”. Thus, the appearance of multiple phenotypes within a single population provides for a phenotype potentially optimal for some future environment. This enhances survival during stochastic extreme weather events associated with climate change. Finally, we end with recommendations for future physiological experiments, recommending in particular that experiments investigating phenotypic flexibility adopt more realistic protocols that reflect the stochastic nature of weather.

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