Genetic differences in the temporal and environmental stability of transgenerational environmental effects

Environments influence the expression of phenotypes of individuals, their progeny, and even their grandprogeny. The duration of environmental effects and how they are modified by subsequent environments are predicted to be targets of natural selection in variable environments. However, little is known about the genetic basis of the temporal persistence of environmental effects and their stability of expression across subsequent environments, or even the extent to which natural genotypes differ in these attributes of environmental effects. We factorially manipulated the thermal environment experienced in three successive generations, to quantify the temporal persistence and environmental stability of temperature effects in contrasting genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that genotypes differed in the manner in which environmental effects dissipated across successive generations, the manner in which responses to ancestral environments were stably expressed in present environments, the manner in which ancestral environments altered responses to present environments, and in the manner in which ancestral environments altered fitness in present conditions. Genetic variation exists in nature for these trait-specific environmental responses, suggesting that the temporal persistence and stability of environmental effects in variable environments have the potential to evolve in response to natural selection imposed by different environments and sequences of environments.

Automated summary

Research has shown that there are genetic differences in the transmission and expression of environmental effects, and these differences are likely to evolve in response to natural selection in different environments and sequences of environments. Experimental manipulation of temperature environments in Arabidopsis thaliana revealed variations in the temporal persistence and environmental stability of temperature effects among different genotypes.