Figure 13. Strong egg retention improves progeny protection when facing sudden environmental stress.
(A) Differences in survival of eggs developing ex utero versus in utero when exposed to a high concentration of ethanol (96%, 10-min exposure). A subset of the 15 focal strains with divergent egg retention was selected to compare the number of surviving eggs ex utero (extracted by dissection) versus in utero (eggs retained in mothers) exposed to ethanol. Overall, the number of surviving eggs tended to be greater when exposed to ethanol in utero compared to ex utero (Kruskal-Wallis Tests performed separately for each strain to compare the number of surviving offspring in utero versus ex utero when exposed to ethanol; *p<0.05, ns: not significant). Class III strains tended to have a higher number of surviving offspring than Class I and II strains. N=5–10 replicates per genotype and treatment (10 hermaphrodites at mid-L4 +30 hr per replicate). See Figure 13—figure supplement 1A, for additional (control) data of the experiment. (B) Differences in survival of eggs developing ex utero versus in utero when exposed to a high concentration of acetic acid (10 M, 15-min exposure). A subset of the 15 focal strains with divergent egg retention was selected to compare the number of surviving eggs ex utero (extracted by dissection) versus in utero (eggs retained in mothers) exposed to acetic acid. For all strains, the number of surviving eggs was significantly greater when exposed to acetic acid in utero compared to ex utero (Kruskal-Wallis Tests performed separately for each strain to compare the number of surviving offspring in utero versus ex utero when exposed to acetic acid; *p<0.05, ns: not significant). Class III strains tended to have a higher number of surviving offspring than Class I and II strains. N=5 replicates per genotype and treatment (10 hermaphrodites at mid-L4 +30 hr per replicate). See Figure 13—figure supplement 1B for additional (control) data of the experiment.