Increased Stress Tolerance in Plants as a Result of Parental Effects

Parental effects occur when phenotypes are not only shaped by genotypes and the environment experienced by the organism, but also intrinsic and/or extrinsic factors experienced by the parents play an important role. Although several studies have dealt with the paternal influence, the majority of investigations have concentrated on the maternal effect. The adaptive maternal effect induces phenotypic changes in offspring, resulting in increased fitness. These changes in offspring result from mothers sensing environmental cues and would prepare them for future environments. This phenomenon, as an important evolutionary concept, is referred to as phenotypic plasticity . The term phenotypic plasticity refers to the ability that the genotype of an organism can produce diverse phenotypes when encountering various environmental situations. Phenotypic plasticity allows organisms to adapt the phenotypes of their offspring to different environments, thereby improving their fitness in altered environments. Maternal effects are known in various organisms, such as mammals, birds, fish, insects, and plants. In plants, maternal effects have been recognized since 1909. Documents have reported that the environmental factors affecting the plant parents during their growth stages lead to the production of various seed-size phenotypes in an inbred genotype. Seed size is regarded as an important index of seed quality. Seedling establishment and germination are the most delicate stages of the plant life cycle and are highly dependent on seed quality. There is evidence that abiotic and biotic stresses in parental plants lead to increased stress tolerance in offspring. The analysis of these pieces of evidence can improve plant breeding techniques.