Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Age of both parents influences reproduction and egg dumping behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.

Journal of Heredity 2019 Februrary 8
Trans-generational maternal effects have been shown to influence a broad range of offspring phenotypes. However, very little is known about paternal trans-generational effects. Here, we tested the trans-generational effects of maternal and paternal age, and their interaction, on daughter and son reproductive fitness in Drosophila melanogaster. We found significant effects of parent ages on offspring reproductive fitness over 10 days post-fertilization. In daughters, older (45 days old) mothers conferred lower reproductive fitness compared to younger mothers (3 days old). In sons, father's age significantly affected reproductive fitness. The effects of two old parents were additive in both sexes and reproductive fitness was lowest when the focal individual had two old parents. Interestingly, daughter fertility was sensitive to father's age but son fertility was insensitive to mother's age, suggesting a sexual asymmetry in trans-generational effects. We found the egg-laying dynamics in daughters dramatically shaped this relationship. Daughters with two old parents demonstrated an extreme egg dumping behavior on day one and laid >2.35 X the number of eggs than the other three age class treatments. Our study reveals significant trans-generational maternal and paternal age effects on fertility and an association with a novel egg laying behavioral phenotype in Drosophila.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app