Figure 1. Transgenerational inheritance of increased resistance to oxidative stress.

(a) Scheme for exposure to environmental stressors. P0 parents were subjected to each stressor during developmental stages as indicated and the F1 descendants were raised under unstressed conditions. (b–e) Oxidative stress resistance of the stressed P0 parents (b), self-fertilized F1 (c) on day 2 adulthood in 2.3 mM H₂O₂, F2 (d) and F3 (e) descendants on day 1 adulthood in 1.7 mM H₂O₂ compared with control groups. Three independent experiments are integrated into each survival curve. Statistical significance was calculated by log-rank test. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.005. Mean survival time and statistics are presented in Supplementary Table 1. (f) Hatching rate of the stressed P0 parents (left) and the F1 (right) descendants. Statistical significance was calculated by Student's t-test. Error bars represent the mean±s.d. of three independent experiments. NS, not significant; AS, arsenite.