Non-stressful temperature changes affect transgenerational phenotypic plasticity across the life cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana plants

Abstract

Background and AimsPlants respond plastically to seasonal changes, often resulting in an adaptation to environmental variation. Even though much is known about how seasonality regulates developmental transitions within generations, transgenerational effects of non-stressful environmental changes are just beginning to be unveiled. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of ambient temperature changes on the expression of transgenerational plasticity in key developmental traits of Arabidopsis thaliana plants.MethodsWe grew Columbia-0 plants in two contrasting temperature environments (18 and 24°C) during their whole life cycles, or the combination of those before and after bolting (18-24°C and 24-18°C) across two generations. We recorded seed germination, flowering time and reproductive biomass production for the second generation, and seed size of the third generation.Key ResultsThe environment during the whole life cycle of the first-generation of plants, even that experienced before flowering, influenced the germination response and flowering time of the second generation. These effects showed opposing directions in a pattern dependent on the life stage experiencing the cue in the first-generation. On the contrary, reproductive biomass production depended on the immediate environment of the progeny generation. Finally, the seed area of the third generation was influenced positively by correlated environments across generations.ConclusionsOur results suggest that non-stressful environmental changes affect the expression of key developmental traits across generations, although those changes can have contrasting effects depending on the parental and grandparental life stage that perceives the cue. Thus, transgenerational effects in response to non-stressful cues may influence the expression of life history traits and potential adaptation of future generations.