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Mirko FRANCESCONI

Why are genetically identical individuals growing in the same environment phenotypically different?
When Feb 08, 2019
from 11:00 to 12:00
Contact Name Equipe FRANCESCONI Salle Condorcet (1 place de l'école)
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Genetically identical individuals growing in the same environment often show substantial phenotypic variation. The reasons for this phenotypic variation are usually unknown. I previously found that isogenic C. elegans growing in the same environment differ in developmental speed, including the relative developmental rate of the soma and the germline (soma-germline heterochrony), fecundity and many other fitness important traits such as size and resistance to early starvation. We found maternal age to be the major determinant of this phenotypic variation in with progeny of young mothers being surprisingly impaired in size, developmental speed, starvation resistance and fecundity, and they also show different soma-germline heterochrony. Changes in maternal provisioning of yolk to the embryo, which increases with age, explain many of these phenotypic differences but do not explain differences in soma-germline heterochrony and fecundity. I now have evidence showing that these differences are induced in the offspring by exposure to pheromone in the parents.