Transgenerational transmission of maternal stimulatory experience in domesticated birds

The environmental stimuli experienced by a female can influence phenotypes and gene expression in the subsequent generations. We used a specifically designed domesticated-bird model to examine the transgenerational transmission of maternal stimulus exposure, a phenomenon that has been observed but has not been understood in noninbred animals. We subjected parental generation [filial (F)₀] hens to viral- or bacterial-like stimulation after artificial insemination. Subsequent filial generations F₁ and F₂ transmitted growth or fertility variations without further stimulation in contrast to the controls. The whole-genome bisulfite sequence and next-generation mRNA sequencing of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from the F₁ generation revealed DNA methylome and transcriptome differences in the F₁ polyriboinosinic:polyribocytidylic [poly(I:C)] acid or LPS offspring, compared with the F₁ controls. In the F₁ offspring, DNA methylation changes induced by maternal immune stimulation may have contributed to transcriptional variation. Pathways analysis indicated that the metabolic processes of xenobiotics and drug metabolism pathways, as well as reproduction-related pathways, were involved in the transgenerational transmission of maternal stimulatory experience. Furthermore, LPS-induced transcriptional transmission may have contributed to subfertility, as indicated by the results of comparative analysis between the transcriptomes of spleen tissues across the F₀ and F₁ generations, as well as the correlative analysis between the transcriptome and reproductive phenotypes. Our findings provide a framework for determining the mechanisms by which maternal stimulatory factors can be inherited transgenerationally with respect to growth, fertility, DNA methylation, and transcriptional levels in outbred animals.-Liu, L., Yang, N., Xu, G., Liu, S., Wang, D., Song, J., Duan, Z., Yang, S., Yu, Y. Transgenerational transmission of maternal stimulatory experience in domesticated birds.