Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 118, Issue 33, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005865118
Keywords
ecology epigenetics evolution herbivory
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Funding
- Stanford University
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As plants develop, they may reallocate their antiherbivore defense traits due to changing costs and benefits. Herbivory triggers genome methylation in targeted plants and their offspring, leading to direct induction of physical defenses in progeny by mother plants with effects lasting from seedling to reproductive stages. Transgenerational priming was observed in physical and chemical defenses, particularly in adult plants, indicating differences in transgenerational plasticity in response to herbivore offense across plant life stages.
As they develop, many plants deploy shifts in antiherbivore defense allocation due to changing costs and benefits of their defensive traits. Plant defenses are known to be primed or directly induced by herbivore damage within generations and across generations by long-lasting epigenetic mechanisms. However, little is known about the differences between life stages of epigenetically inducible defensive traits across generations. To help fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a multigenerational experiment to determine whether defense induction in wild radish plants was reflected in chromatin modifications (DNA methylation); we then examined differences between seedlings and reproductive plants in current and transgenerational plasticity in chemical (glucosinolates) and physical (trichomes) defenses in this species. Herbivory triggered genome methylation both in targeted plants and their offspring. Within one generation, both defenses were highly inducible at the seedling stage, but only chemical defenses were inducible in reproductive plants. Across generations, herbivory experienced by mother plants caused strong direct induction of physical defenses in their progeny, with effects lasting from seedling to reproductive stages. For chemical defenses, however, this transgenerational induction was evident only in adults. Transgenerational priming was observed in physical and chemical defenses, particularly in adult plants. Our results show that trans generational plasticity in plant defenses in response to herbivore offense differs for physical and chemical defense and changes across plant life stages.
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