One type of parental effect occurs when changes in parental phenotype or environment trigger changes to offspring phenotype. Such nongenetic parental effects can be precisely triggered in response to an environmental cue in time-locked fashion, or in other cases, persist for multiple generations after the cue has been removed, suggesting multiple timescales of action. For parental effects to serve as reliable signals of current environmental conditions, they should be reversible, such that when cues change, offspring phenotypes change in accordance. Social hierarchy is a prevalent feature of the environment, and current parental social status could signal the environment in which offspring will be born. Here, we sought to address parental effects of social status and their timescale of action in mice. We show that territorial competition in seminatural environments affects offspring growth. Although dominant males are not heavier than nondominant or control males, they produce faster growing offspring, particularly sons. The timing, effect-size, and sex-specificity of this association are modulated by maternal social experience. We show that a change in paternal social status is sufficient to modulate offspring weight: from one breeding cycle to the next, status-ascending males produce heavier sons than before, and status-descending males produce lighter sons than before. Current paternal status is also highly predictive of liver transcription in sons, including molecular pathways controlling oxidative phosphorylation and iron metabolism. These results are consistent with a parental effect of social experience, although alternative explanations are considered. In summary, changes in paternal social status are associated with changes in offspring growth and metabolism.

中文翻译：

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父亲社会地位的转变可预测后代生长和代谢转录的模式。

当亲本表型或环境的变化触发后代表型的变化时，就会发生一种亲本效应。这种非遗传亲本效应可以以时间锁定的方式响应环境线索而精确触发，或者在其他情况下，在线索被移除后持续多代，表明行动的多个时间尺度。对于作为当前环境条件的可靠信号的亲代效应，它们应该是可逆的，这样当线索改变时，后代表型也会随之改变。社会等级是环境的一个普遍特征，当前父母的社会地位可能预示着后代将出生的环境。在这里，我们试图解决社会地位的父母影响及其在小鼠中的行动时间尺度。我们表明半自然环境中的领土竞争会影响后代的生长。尽管优势雄性并不比非优势雄性或控制雄性重，但它们产生的后代生长速度更快，尤其是儿子。这种关联的时间、效应大小和性别特异性受母体社会经验的调节。我们表明，父亲社会地位的变化足以调节后代体重：从一个繁殖周期到下一个繁殖周期，地位上升的雄性产生比以前更重的儿子，地位下降的雄性产生比以前更轻的儿子。目前的父亲身份也高度预测儿子的肝脏转录，包括控制氧化磷酸化和铁代谢的分子途径。这些结果与社会经验的父母效应一致，尽管考虑了其他解释。总之，父亲社会地位的变化与后代生长和新陈代谢的变化有关。