Picture from Engstrom, Amanda K. et al. (2022) MicroPubl Biol

Figure 1. Decrease in live offspring on high-glucose diet is an adult phenotype that is partially separable from reproductive delay, and is not caused by defects in the larval transition:Wild-type (N2) C. elegans were exposed to a high-glucose diet at 20°C at different lifecycle stages. Figures are labeled with the dietary conditions in the given exposure time: embryo-L4/L4-adulthood (Dev/Adult; A, C, E, G) and embryo-L4/L4-adulthood/adulthood (Dev/L4/Adult; B, D, F). (A) Exposure to high-glucose diet in adulthood reduces progeny production. Animals on a high-glucose diet only during development (purple) produced the same number of offspring as those on a control diet (Cntl) in both development and adulthood (gray). Animals on a high-glucose diet during adulthood (blue and orange) had significantly fewer offspring, independent of developmental diet (****p < 0.0001). (B) High-glucose diet in L4 alone does not affect progeny production. Animals on a high-glucose diet only during the L4 stage (gray open points) produced the same number of offspring as those on a control diet throughout development and adulthood (filled gray points). Animals fed high-glucose diet in adulthood had decreased progeny production (as in A), whether they were exposed to control diet (open orange points) or high-glucose diet (filled orange points) in L4. (C) High-glucose diet during development and adulthood both contribute to reproductive delay. Proportion of total progeny produced daily from (A). Animals on a high-glucose diet during development (purple and blue) produced progeny more slowly, regardless of adulthood diet. Animals on high-glucose diet only during adulthood (orange) produced progeny more slowly than animals on a control diet throughout their lifecycle, but faster than animals on high-glucose diet during development. (D) High-glucose diet in L4 alone does not alter reproductive timing. Proportion of total progeny produced daily from (B). Animals fed high-glucose diet in adulthood had a reproductive delay (as in C), whether they were exposed to control diet (open orange points) or high-glucose diet (filled orange points) in L4. (E) High-glucose diet during development and adulthood both shift the median reproduction point. Day of adulthood at which each animal reached 50% of their total progeny production. Glucose exposure during development (purple and blue) resulted in a 1-day delay of the reproductive profile compared to control diet throughout the lifecycle (gray; ****p < 0.0001). Glucose in adulthood only (orange) delayed reproduction by 0.3 days (* p < 0.03). (F) High-glucose diet in L4 alone does not alter the median reproduction point. Glucose exposure during L4 alone (gray outline), had no effect on the reproductive profile compared to control diet throughout the lifecycle (solid gray). (G) High-glucose diet does not affect the embryo to larval transition. Embryos produced by animals on high-glucose diet in adulthood (orange) had equal hatching rates compared to embryos produced by animals on a control diet (gray).