Data from: Damage from non-glandular trichomes has transgenerational consequences for an herbivore
Organisms are constantly buffeted by the harsh realities of their environment. Some organisms have evolved mechanisms to prepare their offspring to face similar environments. Through parental effects, parents can enrich offspring with quality nutrition and share epigenetic modifications. One example of an environmental pressure that is able to induce transgenerational effects is organismal damage from consuming plant defenses. When consuming plant-based diets, herbivores face challenges such as low nutrition density, toxic defense chemicals, and sharp structures. While the ability of nutritional quality and chemical defenses to trigger transgenerational effects has been studied, the transgenerational effects of physical plant defenses is relatively unknown, in part due to the difficulties of adequately separating physical structures from the leaf chemistry. This study examined the transgenerational effects of non-glandular trichomes on the offspring of tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta) reared on artificial and natural leafdiets with or without the defensive trichomes of horsenettle (Solanum carolinense). Offspring were reared on either a natural leaf diet or an artificial diet lacking any plant defenses. Offspring of parents reared on trichome-containing diets were significantly smaller and tended to be darker, consumed a greater amount of diet, had differences in body mass gain and other metabolic processes, and had increased survival, than offspring of parents never exposed to dietary trichomes. These parental effects held, regardless of which diet the offspring themselves consumed. Overall, trichomes consumed by hornworms affect subsequent offspring. Internal damage caused by diets may reduce an organism’s quality of life, but their offspring appear to be less susceptible to effects of such damage.
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| Work Title | Data from: Damage from non-glandular trichomes has transgenerational consequences for an herbivore |
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| License | CC BY 4.0 (Attribution) |
| Work Type | Dataset |
| Publication Date | February 16, 2021 |
| DOI | doi:10.26207/9eds-q940 |
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| Deposited | February 15, 2021 |
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