Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Inheritance of acquired behaviour adaptations and brain gene expression in chickens

Nätt, Daniel ; Lindqvist, Niclas LU ; Stranneheim, Henrik ; Lundeberg, Joakim ; Torjesen, Peter A and Jensen, Per (2009) In PLoS ONE 4(7).
Abstract

Background: Environmental challenges may affect both the exposed individuals and their offspring. We investigated possible adaptive aspects of such cross-generation transmissions, and hypothesized that chronic unpredictable food access would cause chickens to show a more conservative feeding strategy and to be more dominant, and that these adaptations would be transmitted to the offspring. Methodology/Principal Findings: Parents were raised in an unpredictable (UL) or in predictable diurnal light rhythm (PL, 12:12 h light:dark). In a foraging test, UL birds pecked more at freely available, rather than at hidden and more attractive food, compared to birds from the PL group. Female offspring of UL birds, raised in predictable light... (More)

Background: Environmental challenges may affect both the exposed individuals and their offspring. We investigated possible adaptive aspects of such cross-generation transmissions, and hypothesized that chronic unpredictable food access would cause chickens to show a more conservative feeding strategy and to be more dominant, and that these adaptations would be transmitted to the offspring. Methodology/Principal Findings: Parents were raised in an unpredictable (UL) or in predictable diurnal light rhythm (PL, 12:12 h light:dark). In a foraging test, UL birds pecked more at freely available, rather than at hidden and more attractive food, compared to birds from the PL group. Female offspring of UL birds, raised in predictable light conditions without parental contact, showed a similar foraging behavior, differing from offspring of PL birds. Furthermore, adult offspring of UL birds performed more food pecks in a dominance test, showed a higher preference for high energy food, survived better, and were heavier than offspring of PL parents. Using cDNA microarrays, we found that the differential brain gene expression caused by the challenge was mirrored in the offspring. In particular, several immunoglobulin genes seemed to be affected similarly in both UL parents and their offspring. Estradiol levels were significantly higher in egg yolk from UL birds, suggesting one possible mechanism for these effects. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings suggest that unpredictable food access caused seemingly adaptive responses in feeding behavior, which may have been transmitted to the offspring by means of epigenetic mechanisms, including regulation of immune genes. This may have prepared the offspring for coping with an unpredictable environment.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
PLoS ONE
volume
4
issue
7
article number
e6405
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:19636381
  • scopus:68149159890
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0006405
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
86778004-d297-467d-bb42-9dd6ed994d49
date added to LUP
2017-06-01 16:30:26
date last changed
2024-02-29 16:01:51
@article{86778004-d297-467d-bb42-9dd6ed994d49,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Environmental challenges may affect both the exposed individuals and their offspring. We investigated possible adaptive aspects of such cross-generation transmissions, and hypothesized that chronic unpredictable food access would cause chickens to show a more conservative feeding strategy and to be more dominant, and that these adaptations would be transmitted to the offspring. Methodology/Principal Findings: Parents were raised in an unpredictable (UL) or in predictable diurnal light rhythm (PL, 12:12 h light:dark). In a foraging test, UL birds pecked more at freely available, rather than at hidden and more attractive food, compared to birds from the PL group. Female offspring of UL birds, raised in predictable light conditions without parental contact, showed a similar foraging behavior, differing from offspring of PL birds. Furthermore, adult offspring of UL birds performed more food pecks in a dominance test, showed a higher preference for high energy food, survived better, and were heavier than offspring of PL parents. Using cDNA microarrays, we found that the differential brain gene expression caused by the challenge was mirrored in the offspring. In particular, several immunoglobulin genes seemed to be affected similarly in both UL parents and their offspring. Estradiol levels were significantly higher in egg yolk from UL birds, suggesting one possible mechanism for these effects. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings suggest that unpredictable food access caused seemingly adaptive responses in feeding behavior, which may have been transmitted to the offspring by means of epigenetic mechanisms, including regulation of immune genes. This may have prepared the offspring for coping with an unpredictable environment.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nätt, Daniel and Lindqvist, Niclas and Stranneheim, Henrik and Lundeberg, Joakim and Torjesen, Peter A and Jensen, Per}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Inheritance of acquired behaviour adaptations and brain gene expression in chickens}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006405}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0006405}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}