Parental early life environments drive transgenerational plasticity of offspring metabolism in a freshwater fish (Danio rerio)

Parental experiences can lead to changes in offspring phenotypes through transgenerational plasticity (TGP). TGP is expected to play a role in improving the responses of offspring to changes in climate, but little is known about how the early lives of parents influence offspring TGP. Here, we use a model organism, zebrafish (Danio rerio), to contrast the effects of early and later life parental thermal environments on offspring routine metabolism. To accomplish this, we exposed both parents to either constant optimal (27°C) or environmentally realistic diel fluctuating (22–32°C) temperatures during early (embryonic and larval) and later (juvenile and adult) life in a factorial design. We found significant reduction of routine metabolic rates (greater than 20%) at stressful temperatures (22°C and 32°C) after biparental early life exposure to fluctuating temperatures, but little effect of later life parental temperatures on offspring metabolism. This reduction reflects metabolic compensation and is expected to enhance offspring body sizes under stressful temperatures. These changes occur over and above the effects of parental environments on egg size, suggesting alternate non-genetic mechanisms influenced offspring metabolic rates.