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Summary Plant responses to abiotic environmental challenges are known to have lasting effects on the plant beyond the initial stress exposure. Some of these lasting effects are transgenerational, affecting the next generation. The plant response to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels has been well studied. However, these investigations are typically limited to plants grown for a single generation in a high CO2environment while transgenerational studies are rare.We aimed to determine transgenerational growth responses in plants after exposure to high CO2by investigating the direct progeny when returned to baseline CO2levels.We found that both the flowering plantArabidopsis thalianaand seedless nonvascular plantPhyscomitrium patenscontinue to display accelerated growth rates in the progeny of plants exposed to high CO2. We used the model species Arabidopsis to dissect the molecular mechanism and found that DNA methylation pathways are necessary for heritability of this growth response.More specifically, the pathway of RNA‐directed DNA methylation is required to initiate methylation and the proteins CMT2 and CMT3 are needed for the transgenerational propagation of this DNA methylation to the progeny plants. Together, these two DNA methylation pathways establish and then maintain a cellular memory to high CO2exposure.
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This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2025
Corticosterone exposure is associated with long‐term changes in DNA methylation, physiology and breeding decisions in a wild bird
Abstract When facing challenges, vertebrates activate a hormonal stress response that can dramatically alter behaviour and physiology. Although this response can be costly, conceptual models suggest that it can also recalibrate the stress response system, priming more effective responses to future challenges. Little is known about whether this process occurs in wild animals, particularly in adulthood, and if so, how information about prior experience with stressors is encoded. One potential mechanism is hormonally mediated changes in DNA methylation. We simulated the spikes in corticosterone that accompany a stress response using non‐invasive dosing in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) and monitored the phenotypic effects 1 year later. In a subset of individuals, we characterized DNA methylation using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing shortly after treatment and a year later. The year after treatment, experimental females had stronger negative feedback and initiated breeding earlier—traits that are associated with stress resilience and reproductive performance in our population—and higher baseline corticosterone. We also found that natural variation in corticosterone predicted patterns of DNA methylation. Finally, corticosterone treatment influenced methylation on short (1–2 weeks) and long (1 year) time scales; however, these changes did not have clear links to functional regulation of the stress response. Taken together, our results are consistent with corticosterone‐induced priming of future stress resilience and support DNA methylation as a potential mechanism, but more work is needed to demonstrate functional consequences. Uncovering the mechanisms linking experience with the response to future challenges has implications for understanding the drivers of stress resilience.
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- PAR ID:
- 10548881
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Molecular Ecology
- Volume:
- 33
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 0962-1083
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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