title: Experience Modulates the Reproductive Response to Heat Stress in C. elegans via Multiple Physiological Processes.
abstract: Natural environments are considerably more variable than laboratory settings and often involve transient exposure to stressful conditions. To fully understand how organisms have evolved to respond to any given stress, prior experience must therefore be considered. We investigated the effects of individual and ancestral experience on C. elegans reproduction. We documented ways in which cultivation at 15°C or 25°C affects developmental time, lifetime fecundity, and reproductive performance after severe heat stress that exceeds the fertile range of the organism but is compatible with survival and future fecundity. We found that experience modulates multiple aspects of reproductive physiology, including the male and female germ lines and the interaction between them. These responses vary in their environmental sensitivity, suggesting the existence of complex mechanisms for coping with unpredictable and stressful environments.
authors.affiliation: Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.|Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Devin Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Gouvêa
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Erin Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Aprison
authors.affiliation: Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.|Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.|Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ilya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ruvinsky
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D005298:Fertility; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010063:Ovum / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology; D014022:Tissue Survival