High-temperature-induced diapause transiently primes intergenerational dauer formation in C. elegans
Environmental stress during early development can have lasting effects on reproduction and developmental plasticity in Caenorhabditis elegans. We compared the consequences of two stressors that induce diapause, high temperature and crowding, in intergenerational gene expression of Young Adults. The progeny of temperature-induced dauers (F1) exhibit a twofold increase in dauer formation upon re-exposure to heat, an intergenerational effect that resets in the F2 generation following a stress-free generation.