Maternal death and offspring fitness in multiple wild primates.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zipple MN
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7821045 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:In species with sexual size dimorphism, the offspring of the larger sex usually have greater energy requirements and may lead to greater fitness costs for parents. The effects of offspring sex on maternal longevity, however, have only been tested in humans. Human studies produced mixed results and considerable debate mainly owing to the difficulty of distinguishing the effects of sexual dimorphism from sociocultural factors. To advance this debate, we examined how the relative number of sons influenced maternal longevity in four species of free-living ungulates (Soay sheep Ovis aries; bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis; red deer, Cervus elaphus; mountain goat, Oreamnos americanus), with high male-biased sexual size dimorphism but without complicating sociocultural variables. We found no evidence for a higher cumulative cost of sons than of daughters on maternal longevity. For a given number of offspring, most females with many sons in all four populations lived longer than females with few sons. The higher cost of sons over daughters on maternal lifespan reported by some human studies may be the exception rather than the rule in long-lived iteroparous species.
| S-EPMC6408606 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Sickness during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of offspring neurodevelopmental disorders. Rodent models have played a critical role in establishing causal relationships and identifying mechanisms of altered brain and behavior development in pups prenatally exposed to maternal immune activation (MIA). We recently developed a novel nonhuman primate model to bridge the gap between human epidemiological studies and rodent models of prenatal immune challenge. Our initial results demonstrated that rhesus monkeys given the viral mimic synthetic double-stranded RNA (polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid stabilized with poly-l-lysine) during pregnancy produce offspring with abnormal repetitive behaviors, altered communication, and atypical social interactions. METHODS:We utilized noninvasive infrared eye tracking to further evaluate social processing capabilities in a subset of the first trimester MIA-exposed offspring (n = 4) and control animals (n = 4) from our previous study. RESULTS:As juveniles, the MIA offspring differed from control animals on several measures of social attention, particularly when viewing macaque faces depicting the fear grimace facial expression. Compared with control animals, MIA offspring had a longer latency before fixating on the eyes, had fewer fixations directed at the eyes, and spent less total time fixating on the eyes of the fear grimace images. CONCLUSIONS:In the rhesus monkey model, exposure to MIA at the end of the first trimester results in abnormal gaze patterns to salient social information. The use of noninvasive eye tracking extends the findings from rodent MIA models to more human-like behaviors resembling those in both autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.
| S-EPMC7010413 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Maternal age has a negative effect on offspring lifespan in a range of taxa and is hypothesized to influence the evolution of aging. However, the mechanisms of maternal age effects are unknown, and it remains unclear if maternal age alters offspring response to therapeutic interventions to aging. Here, we evaluate maternal age effects on offspring lifespan, reproduction, and the response to caloric restriction, and investigate maternal investment as a source of maternal age effects using the rotifer, Brachionus manjavacas, an aquatic invertebrate. We found that offspring lifespan and fecundity decline with increasing maternal age. Caloric restriction increases lifespan in all offspring, but the magnitude of lifespan extension is greater in the offspring from older mothers. The trade-off between reproduction and lifespan extension under low food conditions expected by life history theory is observed in young-mother offspring, but not in old-mother offspring. Age-related changes in maternal resource allocation to reproduction do not drive changes in offspring fitness or plasticity under caloric restriction in B. manjavacas. Our results suggest that the declines in reproduction in old-mother offspring negate the evolutionary fitness benefits of lifespan extension under caloric restriction.
| S-EPMC6395700 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Programmed cell death pathways eliminate infected cells and regulate infection-associated inflammation during pathogen invasion. Cytomegaloviruses encode several distinct suppressors that block intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, and necroptosis, pathways that impact pathogenesis of this ubiquitous herpesvirus. Here, we expanded the understanding of three cell autonomous suppression mechanisms on which murine cytomegalovirus relies: (i) M38.5-encoded viral mitochondrial inhibitor of apoptosis (vMIA), a BAX suppressor that functions in concert with M41.1-encoded viral inhibitor of BAK oligomerization (vIBO), (ii) M36-encoded viral inhibitor of caspase-8 activation (vICA), and (iii) M45-encoded viral inhibitor of RIP/RHIM activation (vIRA). Following infection of bone marrow-derived macrophages, the virus initially deflected receptor-interacting protein kinase (RIPK)3-dependent necroptosis, the most potent of the three cell death pathways. This process remained independent of caspase-8, although suppression of this apoptotic protease enhances necroptosis in most cell types. Second, the virus deflected TNF-mediated extrinsic apoptosis, a pathway dependent on autocrine TNF production by macrophages that proceeds independently of mitochondrial death machinery or RIPK3. Third, cytomegalovirus deflected BCL-2 family protein-dependent mitochondrial cell death through combined TNF-dependent and -independent signaling even in the absence of RIPK1, RIPK3, and caspase-8. Furthermore, each of these cell death pathways dictated a distinct pattern of cytokine and chemokine activation. Therefore, cytomegalovirus employs sequential, non-redundant suppression strategies to specifically modulate the timing and execution of necroptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, and intrinsic apoptosis within infected cells to orchestrate virus control and infection-dependent inflammation. Virus-encoded death suppressors together hold control over an intricate network that upends host defense and supports pathogenesis in the intact mammalian host.
| S-EPMC8473406 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Current concerns about climate change have led to intensive research attempting to understand how climate-driven stressors affect the performance of organisms, in particular the offspring of many invertebrates and fishes. Although stressors are likely to act on several stages of the life cycle, little is known about their action across life phases, for instance how multiple stressors experienced simultaneously in the maternal environment can modulate the responses to the same stressors operating in the offspring environment. Here, we study how performance of offspring of a marine invertebrate (shore crab Carcinus maenas) changes in response to two stressors (temperature and salinity) experienced during embryogenesis in brooding mothers from different seasons. On average, offspring responses were antagonistic: high temperature mitigated the negative effects of low salinity on survival. However, the magnitude of the response was modulated by the temperature and salinity conditions experienced by egg-carrying mothers. Performance also varied among cohorts, perhaps reflecting genetic variation, and/or maternal conditions prior to embryogenesis. This study contributes towards the understanding of how anthropogenic modification of the maternal environment drives offspring performance in brooders.
| S-EPMC7329052 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The releasing of transgenic soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) into farming systems raises concerns that transgenes might escape from the soybeans via pollen into their endemic wild relatives, the wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc.). The fitness of F1 hybrids obtained from 10 wild soybean populations collected from China and transgenic glyphosate-resistant soybean was measured without weed competition, as well as one JLBC-1 F1 hybrid under weed competition. All crossed seeds emerged at a lower rate from 13.33-63.33%. Compared with those of their wild progenitors, most F1 hybrids were shorter, smaller, and with decreased aboveground dry biomass, pod number, and 100-seed weight. All F1 hybrids had lower pollen viability and filled seeds per plant. Finally, the composite fitness of nine F1 hybrids was significantly lower. One exceptional F1 hybrid was IMBT F1, in which the composite fitness was 1.28, which was similar to that of its wild progenitor due to the similarities in pod number, increased aboveground dry biomass, and 100-seed weight. Under weed competition, plant height, aboveground dry biomass, pod number per plant, filled seed number per plant, and 100-seed weight of JLBC-1 F1 were lower than those of the wild progenitor JLBC-1. JLBC-1 F1 hybrids produced 60 filled seeds per plant. Therefore, F1 hybrids could emerge and produce offspring. Thus, effective measures should be taken to prevent gene flow from transgenic soybean to wild soybean to avoid the production F1 hybrids when releasing transgenic soybean in fields in the future.
| S-EPMC7854435 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Trivers and Willard proposed that offspring sex ratio should vary with maternal condition when condition, meant as maternal capacity to care, has different fitness consequences for sons and daughters. In polygynous and dimorphic species, mothers in good condition should preferentially produce sons, whereas mothers in poor condition should produce more daughters. Despite its logical appeal, support for this hypothesis has been inconsistent. Sex-ratio variation may be influenced by additional factors, such as environmental conditions and previous reproduction, which are often ignored in empirical studies. We analysed 39 years of data on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) that fit all the assumptions of the Trivers-Willard hypothesis. Production of sons increased with maternal condition only for mothers that weaned a son the previous year. This relationship likely reflects a mother's ability to bear the higher reproductive costs of sons. The interaction between maternal condition and previous weaning success on the probability of producing a son was independent of the positive effect of paternal reproductive success. Maternal and paternal effects accounted for similar proportions of the variance in offspring sex. Maternal reproductive history should be considered in addition to current condition in studies of sex allocation.
| S-EPMC5014044 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Throughout their native range, wild Atlantic salmon populations are threatened by hybridization and introgression with escapees from net-pen salmon aquaculture. Although domestic-wild hybrid offspring have shown reduced fitness in laboratory and field experiments, consequential impacts on population abundance and genetic integrity remain difficult to predict in the field, in part because the strength of selection against domestic offspring is often unknown and context-dependent. Here, we follow a single large escape event of farmed Atlantic salmon in southern Newfoundland and monitor changes in the in-river proportions of hybrids and feral individuals over time using genetically based hybrid identification. Over a three-year period following the escape, the overall proportion of wild parr increased consistently (total wild proportion of 71.6%, 75.1% and 87.5% each year, respectively), with subsequent declines in feral (genetically pure farmed individuals originating from escaped, farmed adults) and hybrid parr. We quantify the strength of selection against parr of aquaculture ancestry and explore the genetic and demographic consequences for populations in the region. Within-cohort changes in the relative proportions of feral and F1 parr suggest reduced relative survival compared to wild individuals over the first (0.15 and 0.81 for feral and F1, respectively) and second years of life (0.26, 0.83). These relative survivorship estimates were used to inform an individual-based salmon eco-genetic model to project changes in adult abundance and overall allele frequency across three invasion scenarios ranging from short-term to long-term invasion and three relative survival scenarios. Modelling results indicate that total population abundance and time to recovery were greatly affected by relative survivorship and predict significant declines in wild population abundance under continued large escape events and calculated survivorship. Overall, this work demonstrates the importance of estimating the strength of selection against domestic offspring in the wild to predict the long-term impact of farmed salmon escape events on wild populations.
| S-EPMC6439497 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Variation in parental age can have important consequences for offspring fitness and the structure of populations and disease transmission. However, our understanding of the effects of parental age on offspring in natural populations is limited. Here, we investigate consequences of parental age for offspring fitness and test for age-assortative mating in a short-lived bird, the house wren (Troglodytes aedon). Offspring immunoresponsiveness increased with maternal age and decreased with paternal age, but the strength of these effects varied with the age of one's mate. Offspring immunoresponsiveness was augmented most with older mothers and younger fathers. Thus, we expected this combination of ages to yield the highest offspring fitness. However, offspring recruitment, longevity, and lifetime reproductive success were greatest when both parents were of above-average age. Consistent with the interactive effects of parental age on offspring fitness, we detected positive age-assortative mating among breeding pairs. Our results suggest that selection favors age-assortative mating, but in different ways depending on how parental ages affect offspring. We suggest that, in this short-lived species, selection for combinations of parental ages that maximize offspring immune responses is likely weaker than selection to produce breeding adults.
| S-EPMC5714303 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundIn egg-laying animals, mothers can influence the developmental environment and thus the phenotype of their offspring by secreting various substances into the egg yolk. In birds, recent studies have demonstrated that different yolk substances can interactively affect offspring phenotype, but the implications of such effects for offspring fitness and phenotype in natural populations have remained unclear. We measured natural variation in the content of 31 yolk components known to shape offspring phenotypes including steroid hormones, antioxidants and fatty acids in eggs of free-living great tits (Parus major) during two breeding seasons. We tested for relationships between yolk component groupings and offspring fitness and phenotypes.ResultsVariation in hatchling and fledgling numbers was primarily explained by yolk fatty acids (including saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids) - but not by androgen hormones and carotenoids, components previously considered to be major determinants of offspring phenotype. Fatty acids were also better predictors of variation in nestling oxidative status and size than androgens and carotenoids.ConclusionsOur results suggest that fatty acids are important yolk substances that contribute to shaping offspring fitness and phenotype in free-living populations. Since polyunsaturated fatty acids cannot be produced de novo by the mother, but have to be obtained from the diet, these findings highlight potential mechanisms (e.g., weather, habitat quality, foraging ability) through which environmental variation may shape maternal effects and consequences for offspring. Our study represents an important first step towards unraveling interactive effects of multiple yolk substances on offspring fitness and phenotypes in free-living populations. It provides the basis for future experiments that will establish the pathways by which yolk components, singly and/or interactively, mediate maternal effects in natural populations.
| S-EPMC8340462 | biostudies-literature