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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · 16d

🧬 New from our Department

#PlantScience #Epigenetics #TransgenerationalEffects #FragariaVesca #PlantMemory

In strawberry, transgenerational effects (TGE) depend on how plants reproduce:
Clonal offspring: stronger TGE from abiotic stresses
Sexual offspring: stronger TGE from biotic interactions
Even DNA methylation inheritance follows this split.
Reproduction mode shapes what kind of memory plants pass on

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 27

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 18

Our department is proud to be part of the organizing team for this amazing conference on population biology and beyond! 🌿 Don't miss this great opportunity to visit Prague in the spring! 🌸 #PopBio2025 #ScienceConference #Ecology"

Vitek Latzel @vtec.bsky.social · Feb 17

Great news! 🌿 #PopBio2025 is coming to Prague! Don't miss this fantastic conference on population biology—save the date! 21-24 May 📅 #Ecology #Evolution #ScienceConference"

Jules Segrestin @jsegrestin.bsky.social · Feb 17

🌱 I’m excited to announce that I’ll be presenting at PopBio 2025 in Prague! 🌍🌐

I’ll be discussing the drivers of stability in ecological communities and sharing new results from long-term biodiversity data.

🗓️ May 2025 | More info: popbio2025.ibot.cas.cz

#PopBio2025 #Ecology #FunctionalEcology

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Reposted by Department of Population Ecology

Vitek Latzel @vtec.bsky.social · Feb 13

Env. change can push plants beyond their genetic limits, but heritable epigenetic changes may offer a fast track to adaptation. Our study on clonal woodland strawberry shows altitude-driven selection on epialleles, suggesting DNA methylation could help plants thrive under changing environment.

DNA methylation shows footprints of altitude selection in the clonal plant species Fragaria vesca

### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

www.biorxiv.org

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

BTW, the journal issue's cover picture shows our mycorrhizal model.🧪

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

Stay tuned for the full story on how clonal vs. sexual reproduction can shift the power of TGP!
#TransgenerationalPlasticity #Mycorrhiza
#Epigenetics #PlantSymbiosis

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

It seems clonal offspring aren’t as enthusiastic about forming mycorrhizal partnerships—and that difference also shows up in their inherited epigenetic profiles. We’re busy digging deeper into these epigenetic data, and the results are looking juicy.

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

We hypothesized that clonal offspring might carry more of that epigenetic memory (because they skip meiosis), but guess what? Mycorrhizal fungi sparked stronger TGP in sexual Fragaria vesca offspring than in clonal ones! Why?

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

Check out our new paper in Journal of Ecology! We’ve been delving into transgenerational plasticity (TGP)—that cool mechanism where plants “prep” their offspring for future environments. Our big question? Whether clonal and sexual offspring from the same parent plants show similar TGP.

Transgenerational effects of mycorrhiza are stronger in sexual than in clonal offspring of Fragaria vesca and are partly adaptive

These results suggest that clonal and sexual reproduction are under different evolutionary pressures, leading to the development of stronger TGE mechanisms in response to mycorrhizal symbiosis in the...

doi.org

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Department of Population Ecology @popecolibot.bsky.social · Feb 5

Whether clonal and sexual offspring from the same parent plants show similar TGP.We hypothesized that clonal offspring might carry more of that epigenetic memory (because they skip meiosis) but guess what? Mycorrhizal fungi sparked stronger TGP in sexual Fragaria vesca offspring than in clonal ones!