Inverse Lansing effect: Maternal age and provisioning affecting daughters’ longevity and male offspring production

Maternal age effects on offspring life history are known in a variety of
organisms, with offspring of older mothers typically having lower life
expectancy (Lansing Effect). However there is no consensus on generality
and mechanisms of this pattern. We tested predictions of Lansing Effect in
several Daphnia magna clones and observed clone-specific magnitude and
even direction of the maternal age effect on offspring
longevity.  We also report ambidirectional, genotype-specific
effects of maternal age on daughters' propensity to produce male
offspring. Focusing on two clones with contrasting life-histories, we
demonstrate that maternal age effects can be explained by lipid
provisioning of embryos by mothers of different ages. Individuals from a
single-generation maternal age reversal treatment showed intermediate
lifespan and intermediate lipid content at birth. In the clone
characterized by the “inverse Lansing Effect” neonates produced by older
mothers showed higher mitochondrial membrane potential in neural tissues
than their counterparts born to younger mothers. We conclude that an
“inverse Lansing Effect” is possible, and hypothesize that it may be
caused by age-specific maternal lipid provisioning creating a calorically
restricted environment during embryonic development, which, in turn
reduces fecundity and increases lifespan.