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| 2. |
- Hotzy, Cosima, et al.
(författare)
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Intrinsic post‐ejaculation sperm ageing does not affect offspring fitness in Atlantic salmon
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. - 1010-061X .- 1420-9101. ; 33:5, s. 576-583
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Post-meiotic sperm ageing, both before ejaculation and after ejaculation, has been shown to negatively affect offspring fitness by lowering the rate of embryonic development, reducing embryonic viability and decreasing offspring condition. These negative effects are thought to be caused by intrinsic factors such as oxidative stress and ATP depletion or extrinsic factors such as temperature and osmosis. Effects of post-ejaculation sperm ageing on offspring fitness have so far almost exclusively been tested in internal fertilizers. Here, we tested whether intrinsic post-ejaculation sperm ageing affects offspring performance in an external fertilizer, the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. We performed in vitro fertilizations with a split-clutch design where sperm were subjected to four post-ejaculation ageing treatments. We varied the duration between sperm activation and fertilization while minimizing extrinsic stress factors and tested how this affected offspring fitness. We found no evidence for an effect of our treatments on embryo survival, hatching time, larval standard length, early larval survival or larval growth rate, indicating that intrinsic post-ejaculation sperm ageing may not occur in Atlantic salmon. One reason may be the short life span of salmon sperm after ejaculation. Whether our findings are true in other external fertilizers with extended sperm activity remains to be tested.
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| 3. |
- Silva, Willian T. A. F., 1987-
(författare)
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Non-genetic processes in development and heredity
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is a swiftly increasing amount of empirical evidence that non-genetic factors, such as DNA methylation and small RNAs, play an important role not only in development but also in heredity and, therefore, evolutionary dynamics. One of the most interesting aspects of non-genetic processes is their responsiveness to environmental conditions, which has been shown to affect not only the phenotype and fitness of the individuals directly exposed to the stimulus, but also their offspring even when the stimulus is no longer present, indicating that the transmission of non-genetic factors across generations might work analogously to immunization against recurring conditions. In this thesis, I explored the effects and consequences of non-genetic processes in development and heredity, from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. In Article I, I created a mathematical model of DNA methylation dynamics during the maternal-to-zygotic transition, leading to the zygotic genome activation. I found that there is a developmental constraint on the transition between different cell lineages, with an increasing flexibility of active methylation and decreasing flexibility of maintenance (de-)methylation. In Article II, we explored the dynamics of small RNA production throughout development, including their amplification, transgenerational transmission and responsiveness to environmental conditions. Responsiveness of small RNA production resulted in greater benefits when soma and germline are both responsive, especially in highly correlated environmental conditions. In Article III, I carried out experiments on zebrafish to explore the effects of the male social environment on sperm production in terms of sperm morphology and DNA quality. Males exposed to different social treatments produced sperm with different morphologies and DNA integrity levels. In Article IV, we used the same experimental design to look at the effects of the male social environment on offspring development in terms of differential gene expression patterns. Males exposed to different social treatments sired offspring that showed different expression patterns of genes involved in post-transcriptional processes of gene expression regulation. Our findings shed light on the importance of non-genetic processes in development and heredity and contributes to the current knowledge about which and how non-genetic mechanisms can potentially affect evolutionary dynamics.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Silva, Willian T. A. F., 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of male social environment on sperm phenotype and genome integrity
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1010-061X .- 1420-9101. ; 32:6, s. 535-544
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sperm function and quality are primary determinants of male reproductive performance and hence fitness. The presence of rival males has been shown to affect ejaculate and sperm traits in a wide range of taxa. However, male physiological conditions may not only affect sperm phenotypic traits but also their genetic and epigenetic signatures, affecting the fitness of the resulting offspring. We investigated the effects of male-male competition on sperm quality using TUNEL assays and geometric morphometrics in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. We found that the sperm produced by males exposed to high male-male competition had smaller heads but larger midpiece and flagellum than sperm produced by males under low competition. Head and flagella also appeared less sensitive to the osmotic stress induced by activation with water. In addition, more sperm showed signals of DNA damage in ejaculates of males under high competition. These findings suggest that the presence of a rival male may have positive effects on sperm phenotypic traits but negative effects on sperm DNA integrity. Overall, males facing the presence of rival males may produce faster swimming and more competitive sperm but this may come at a cost for the next generation.
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| 6. |
- Maklakov, Alex A, et al.
(författare)
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Antagonistically pleiotropic allele increases lifespan and late-life reproduction at the cost of early-life reproduction and individual fitness
- 2017
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : ROYAL SOC. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 284:1856
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Evolutionary theory of ageing maintains that increased allocation to early-life reproduction results in reduced somatic maintenance, which is predicted to compromise longevity and late-life reproduction. This prediction has been challenged by the discovery of long-lived mutants with no loss of fecundity. The first such long-lived mutant was found in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Specifically, partial loss-of-function mutation in the age-1 gene, involved in the nutrient-sensing insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling pathway, confers longevity, as well as increased resistance to pathogens and to temperature stress without appreciable fitness detriment. Here, we show that the long-lived age-1(hx546) mutant has reduced fecundity and offspring production in early-life, but increased fecundity, hatching success, and offspring production in late-life compared with wild-type worms under standard conditions. However, reduced early-life performance of long-lived mutant animals was not fully compensated by improved performance in late-life and resulted in reduced individual fitness. These results suggest that the age-1(hx546) allele has opposing effects on early-life versus late-life fitness in accordance with antagonistic pleiotropy (AP) and disposable soma theories of ageing. These findings support the theoretical conjecture that experimental studies based on standing genetic variation underestimate the importance of AP in the evolution of ageing.
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| 7. |
- Maklakov, Alexei A., et al.
(författare)
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Brains and the city : big-brained passerine birds succeed in urban environments
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biology Letters. - : The Royal Society. - 1744-9561 .- 1744-957X. ; 7:5, s. 730-732
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urban regions are among the most human-altered environments on Earth and they are poised for rapid expansion following population growth and migration. Identifying the biological traits that determine which species are likely to succeed in urbanized habitats is important for predicting global trends in biodiversity. We provide the first evidence for the intuitive yet untested hypothesis that relative brain size is a key factor predisposing animals to successful establishment in cities. We apply phylogenetic mixed modelling in a Bayesian framework to show that passerine species that succeed in colonizing at least one of 12 European cities are more likely to belong to big-brained lineages than species avoiding these urban areas. These data support findings linking relative brain size with the ability to persist in novel and changing environments in vertebrate populations, and have important implications for our understanding of recent trends in biodiversity.
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| 8. |
- Zajitschek, Susanne, et al.
(författare)
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Paternal personality and social status influence offspring activity in zebrafish
- 2017
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 17
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Evidence for the transmission of non-genetic information from father to offspring is rapidly accumulating. While the impact of chemical and physical factors such as toxins or diet on the fitness of the parents and their offspring have been studied extensively, the importance of behavioural and social circumstances has only recently been recognised. Behavioural traits such as personality characteristics can be relatively stable, and partly comprise a genetic component but we know little about the non-genetic transmission of plastic behavioural traits from parents to offspring. We investigated the relative effect of personality and of social dominance as indicators at the opposite ends of the plasticity range on offspring behaviour in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). We assessed male boldness, a behavioural trait that has previously been shown previously to possess genetic underpinnings, and experimentally manipulated male social status to assess the association between the two types of behaviour and their correlation with offspring activity. Results: We found a clear interaction between the relatively stable and putative genetic effects based on inherited differences in personality and the experimentally induced epigenetic effects from changes in the social status of the father on offspring activity. Conclusions: Our study shows that offspring behaviour is determined by a combination of paternal personality traits and on-genetic effects derived from the social status of the father.
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| 9. |
- Jimenez-Gonzalez, Ada, et al.
(författare)
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Paternal starvation affects metabolic gene expression during zebrafish offspring development and lifelong fitness
- 2024
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 33:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dietary restriction in the form of fasting is a putative key to a healthier and longer life, but these benefits may come at a trade-off with reproductive fitness and may affect the following generation(s). The potential inter- and transgenerational effects of long-term fasting and starvation are particularly poorly understood in vertebrates when they originate from the paternal line. We utilised the externally fertilising zebrafish amenable to a split-egg clutch design to explore the male-specific effects of fasting/starvation on fertility and fitness of offspring independently of maternal contribution. Eighteen days of fasting resulted in reduced fertility in exposed males. While average offspring survival was not affected, we detected increased larval growth rate in F1 offspring from starved males and more malformed embryos at 24 h post-fertilisation in F2 offspring produced by F1 offspring from starved males. Comparing the transcriptomes of F1 embryos sired by starved and fed fathers revealed robust and reproducible increased expression of muscle composition genes but lower expression of lipid metabolism and lysosome genes in embryos from starved fathers. A large proportion of these genes showed enrichment in the yolk syncytial layer suggesting gene regulatory responses associated with metabolism of nutrients through paternal effects on extra-embryonic tissues which are loaded with maternal factors. We compared the embryo transcriptomes to published adult transcriptome datasets and found comparable repressive effects of starvation on metabolism-associated genes. These similarities suggest a physiologically relevant, directed and potentially adaptive response transmitted by the father, independently from the offspring's nutritional state, which was defined by the mother.
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| 10. |
- Maklakov, Alexei A., et al.
(författare)
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The Expensive Germline and the Evolution of Ageing
- 2016
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 26:13, s. R577-R586
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The trade-off between survival and reproduction is the bedrock of the evolutionary theory of ageing. The reproductive system regulates ageing of the soma, and removal of germ cells extends somatic lifespan and increases resistance to a broad variety of abiotic and biotic stresses. The general explanation for this somatic response is that reduced reproduction frees up resources for survival. Remarkably, however, the disruption of molecular signaling pathways that regulate ageing increases lifespan without the obligatory reduction in fecundity, thus challenging the key role of the survival-reproduction trade-off. Here, we review the diverse literature on the costs of lifespan extension and suggest that the current paradigm is overly centered on the trade-off between lifespan and fecundity, often neglecting key aspects of fitness, such as development time, defense against parasites and, in particular, the high costs of germline maintenance. Compromised germline maintenance increases germline mutation rate, which reduces offspring fitness and ultimately can terminate germline proliferation across generations. We propose that future work should incorporate the costs of germline maintenance in the study of ageing evolution, as well as in applied biomedical research, by assessing offspring fitness.
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