Affiliation:
1. Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Abstract
Embryogenesis has long been known for its robustness to environmental factors. Although developmental tuning of embryogenesis to the environment experienced by the parent may be beneficial, little is understood on whether and how developmental patterns proactively change. Here, we show that
Caenorhabditis elegans
undergoes alternative embryogenesis in response to maternal gut microbes. Harmful microbes result in altered endodermal cell divisions; morphological changes, including left-right asymmetric development; double association between intestinal and primordial germ cells; and partial rescue of fecundity. The miR-35 microRNA family, which is controlled by systemic endogenous RNA interference and targets the β-transducin repeat-containing protein/cell division cycle 25 (CDC25) pathway, transmits intergenerational information to regulate cell divisions and reproduction. Our findings challenge the widespread assumption that
C. elegans
has an invariant cell lineage that consists of a fixed cell number and provide insights into how organisms optimize embryogenesis to adapt to environmental changes through epigenetic control.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cited by
2 articles.
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