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Oxidative Stress Experienced during Early Development Influences the Offspring Phenotype.
- Source :
-
The American naturalist [Am Nat] 2020 Dec; Vol. 196 (6), pp. 704-716. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Oct 22. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- AbstractOxidative stress (OS) experienced early in life can affect an individual's phenotype. However, its consequences for the next generation remain largely unexplored. We manipulated the OS level endured by zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ) during their development by transitorily inhibiting the synthesis of the key antioxidant glutathione ("early-high-OS"). The offspring of these birds and control parents were cross fostered at hatching to enlarge or reduce its brood size. Independent of parents' early-life OS levels, the chicks raised in enlarged broods showed lower erythrocyte glutathione levels, revealing glutathione sensitivity to environmental conditions. Control biological mothers produced females, not males, that attained a higher body mass when raised in a benign environment (i.e., the reduced brood). In contrast, biological mothers exposed to early-life OS produced heavier males, not females, when allocated in reduced broods. Early-life OS also affected the parental rearing capacity because 12-day-old nestlings raised by a foster pair with both early-high-OS members grew shorter legs (tarsus) than chicks from other groups. The results indicate that environmental conditions during development can affect early glutathione levels, which may in turn influence the next generation through both pre- and postnatal parental effects. The results also demonstrate that early-life OS can constrain the offspring phenotype.
- Subjects :
- Animals
Ankle growth & development
Body Weight
Buthionine Sulfoximine pharmacology
Clutch Size
Erythrocytes chemistry
Female
Finches metabolism
Glutathione drug effects
Male
Nesting Behavior physiology
Antioxidants metabolism
Finches growth & development
Glutathione metabolism
Oxidative Stress physiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1537-5323
- Volume :
- 196
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The American naturalist
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 33211561
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1086/711399