Parental dietary vitamin B12 causes intergenerational growth acceleration and protects offspring from pathogenic microsporidia and bacteria

Abstract

The parental environment of C. elegans can have lasting effects on progeny development and immunity. Vitamin B12 exposure in C. elegans has been shown to accelerate development and to reduce killing caused by pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Vitamin B12 is also maternally transferred to offspring, suggesting a potential role in progeny development. However, the intergenerational effects of vitamin B12 in C. elegans remain uncharacterized. Here, we show that parental exposure to dietary vitamin B12 or vitamin B12-producing bacteria results in offspring with accelerated growth. We find that this inherited acceleration phenotype is vitamin B12 dose-dependent and persists for a single generation. Progeny from vitamin B12 treated parents display reduced levels of the acdh-1 dietary sensor in the earliest larval stages, with expression of this protein recovering into adulthood. During infection with Nematocida parisii, a natural microsporidian pathogen, the offspring of worms fed vitamin B12 diets have better reproductive fitness. However, vitamin B12 diet does not affect offspring infection levels, suggesting that accelerated development provides tolerance to microsporidian infection. Offspring from parents exposed to vitamin B12 are also protected from killing by pathogenic Pseudomonas vranovensis. Vitamin B12-induced intergenerational growth acceleration and N. parisii tolerance is dependent upon the methionine biosynthesis pathway. However, protection from P. vranovensis killing is mediated through both the methionine biosynthesis and the propionyl-CoA breakdown pathways. Our results show how parental microbial diet impacts progeny development through the transfer of vitamin B12 which results in accelerated growth and pathogen tolerance.