| Title: | Transgenerational Herbivory Effects on Performance of Clonal Offspring of the Invasive Plant Alternanthera philoxeroides |
| Author(s): | Fu QY; Yu CL; Dong R; Shi J; Luo FL; Gao JQ; Li HL; Dong BC; Yu FH; |
| Address: | "School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Institute of Wetland Ecology & Clone Ecology/Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China. School of Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. The Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection in the Yellow River Basin of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2223-7747 (Print) 2223-7747 (Electronic) 2223-7747 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Interactions between alien plants and local enemies in introduced ranges may determine plant invasion success. However, little is known about whether herbivory-induced responses are transmitted across vegetative generations of plants and whether epigenetic changes are involved during this process. In a greenhouse experiment, we examined the effects of herbivory by the generalist herbivore Spodoptera litura on the growth, physiology, biomass allocation and DNA methylation level of the invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides in the first- (G1), second- (G2) and third-generation (G3). We also tested the effects of root fragments with different branching orders (i.e., the primary- or secondary-root fragments of taproots) of G1 on offspring performance. Our results showed that G1 herbivory promoted the growth of the plants in G2 that sprouted from the secondary-root fragments of G1 but had a neutral or negative effect on the growth of the plants in G2 from the primary-root fragments. The growth of plants in G3 was significantly reduced by G3 herbivory but not affected by G1 herbivory. Plants in G1 exhibited a higher level of DNA methylation when they were damaged by herbivores than when they were not, while neither plants in G2 nor G3 showed herbivory-induced changes in DNA methylation. Overall, the herbivory-induced growth response within one vegetative generation may represent the rapid acclimatization of A. philoxeroides to the unpredictable generalist herbivores in the introduced ranges. Herbivory-induced trans-generational effects may be transient for clonal offspring of A. philoxeroides, which can be influenced by the branching order of taproots, but be less characterized by DNA methylation" |
| Keywords: | DNA methylation alligator weed biomass allocation herbivory-induced traits multiple-generation herbivory effects root branching order; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEFu, Qiu-Yue Yu, Cheng-Ling Dong, Ran Shi, Juan Luo, Fang-Li Gao, Jun-Qin Li, Hong-Li Dong, Bi-Cheng Yu, Fei-Hai eng 31500331/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ 32071527/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ 32071525/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ Switzerland 2023/03/12 Plants (Basel). 2023 Mar 4; 12(5):1180. doi: 10.3390/plants12051180" |
