the relationship between female oviposition preference and offspring performance is a key area of study on the evolution of host specificity. this study investigates host prefer-ence of the polyphagous hover fly syrphus ribesii (diptera: syrphidae) and compares it with some components of its offspring`s performance. females and offspring were tested on six naturally used aphid hosts (blackberry...

A ‘‘green beard’’ refers to a gene, or group of genes, that is able to recognize itself in other individuals and direct benefits to these individuals. Green-beard effects have been dismissed as implausible by authors who have implicitly assumed sophisticated mechanisms of perception and complex behavioral responses. However, many simple mechanisms for genes to ‘‘recognize’’ themselves exist at ...

REPRODUCTION INVOLVES TRADE-OFFS between mating and parenting (Trivers, 1972; Williams, 1966), and attendant conflicts between males and females and parents and offspring (Hager & Johnstone, 2003; Trivers, 1974). Conflicts arise because the ways in which each sex and each parent distribute limited reproductive resources is not always in the best interest of the other sex or offspring. Still, ma...

Abstract Maternal environmental exposures, such as high-fat diets, diabetes and obesity, can induce long-term effects in offspring. These include increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), depression anxiety. The mechanisms underlying these late-life neurologic are unknown. In this article, we measured changes the offspring brain determined w...

Human and animal studies have revealed a strong association between periconceptional environmental factors, such as poor maternal diet, and an increased propensity for cardiovascular and metabolic disease in adult offspring. Previously, we reported cardiovascular and physiological effects of maternal low protein diet (LPD) fed during discrete periods of periconceptional development on 6-month-o...

Triclocarban (TCC) is among the top 10 most commonly detected wastewater contaminants in both concentration and frequency. Its presence in water, as well as its propensity to bioaccumulate, has raised numerous questions about potential endocrine and developmental effects. Here, we investigated whether exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration of TCC could result in transfer from mot...

background: alpha methyldopa (amd) is a well-known treatment for the pregnancy induced hypertension and commonly used in several countries. indeed the possible effect of amd on the behavioral activities of offspring, whom are exposed during fetus period, has not been studied. the present study evaluated the possible effect of maternal administration of amd on the rat offspring memory in the gro...

Offspring of long-lived families are characterized by beneficial metabolic phenotypes in glucose and lipid metabolism and low 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Although the genetic basis for human longevity remains largely unclear, the contribution of variation at the APOE locus has been repeatedly demonstrated. We aimed to assess whether ApoE isoforms mark the familial longevity status in middle age and su...

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS We hypothesized that diabetes during pregnancy (DDP) alters genome-wide DNA methylation in placenta resulting in differentially methylated loci of metabolically relevant genes and downstream changes in RNA and protein expression. METHODS We mapped genome-wide DNA methylation with the Infinium 450K Human Methylation Bead Chip in term fetal placentae from Native American and His...