How mothers predict the future: epigenetics and environment

母亲如何预测未来：表观遗传学和环境

• 批准号: 2649060
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2649060
• 关键词: How; mothers; predict; future; epigenetics

Sudden environmental changes are challenging for the survival of many organisms. Some organisms evolved mechanisms to cope with uncertainty, by sensing the environment and transmitting selected adaptive traits to the next generation. We use the nematode Auanema freiburgensis as model to study the mechanisms by which environmental signals sensed by the mother results in the modification of the germline to produce stress-resistant progeny. In this nematode, chemicals produced by nematodes of the same species are used as signals for overcrowding. Thus, by sensing these chemicals, the mother 'prepares' the progeny to withstand the lack of food that occurs in overcrowded conditions. The progeny arrests development in the form of larvae, and can survive in the absence of food for several months. Once in a benign environment, the larvae resume development to become self-fertilizing adults. The main objectives of the project are to identify the chemical nature sensed by the mothers, how the sensory neurons convey the information to the gonad, and how the germline changes result in different kinds of progeny.

突然的环境变化对许多生物的生存构成挑战。一些生物进化出了科普不确定性的机制，通过感知环境并将选定的适应性特征传递给下一代。我们使用的线虫Auanema freiburgensis作为模型来研究的机制，由母亲的结果在修改的种系产生抗应激后代的环境信号。在这种线虫中，同种线虫产生的化学物质被用作过度拥挤的信号。因此，通过感知这些化学物质，母亲“准备”后代承受在过度拥挤的条件下发生的食物缺乏。后代以幼虫的形式停止发育，并且可以在没有食物的情况下存活数月。一旦在一个良性的环境中，幼虫恢复发展成为自我繁殖的成年人。该项目的主要目标是确定母亲感觉到的化学性质，感觉神经元如何将信息传递到性腺，以及种系变化如何导致不同种类的后代。