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Citations

241

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Grant support

This work was supported by a European Research Council Consolidator grant (616434), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2011-26206 and SEV-2012-0208), the AXA Research Fund, the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, Agencia de Gestio d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, 2014 SGR 831), the EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Program, and the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya. M.F.P. was partially supported by a FPI-Severo Ochoa fellowship. Expression profiling was performed in the CRG Genomics core facility and microscopy in the CRG Advanced Light Microscopy Facility. Some strains were provided by the CGC, which is funded by National Institutes of Health Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (P40 OD010440).

Analysis of institutional authors

Francesconi MAuthorHidalgo-Carcedo CAuthorLehner BCorresponding Author

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Article

Maternal age generates phenotypic variation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Publicated to:Nature. 552 (7683): 106-+ - 2017-12-07 552(7683), DOI: 10.1038/nature25012

Authors: Perez, MF; Francesconi, M; Hidalgo-Carcedo, C; Lehner, B

Affiliations

Barcelona Inst Sci & Technol, Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, EMBL CRG Syst Biol Res Unit, Dr Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain - Author
EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain.;Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.;EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain.;Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.;EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain.;Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.;EMBL-CRG Systems Biology Research Unit, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Spain.;Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.;Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Pg. Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain. - Author
Pg Lluis Co 23, Inst Catalana Recerca & Estudis Avancats ICREA, Barcelona 08010, Spain - Author
Univ Pompeu Fabra UPF, Barcelona, Spain - Author

Abstract

Genetically identical individuals that grow in the same environment often show substantial phenotypic variation within populations of organisms as diverse as bacteria, nematodes, rodents and humans. With some exceptions, the causes are poorly understood. Here we show that isogenic Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes vary in their size at hatching, speed of development, growth rate, starvation resistance, fecundity, and also in the rate of development of their germline relative to that of somatic tissues. We show that the primary cause of this variation is the age of an individual's mother, with the progeny of young mothers exhibiting several phenotypic impairments. We identify age-dependent changes in the maternal provisioning of the lipoprotein complex vitellogenin to embryos as the molecular mechanism that underlies the variation in multiple traits throughout the life of an animal. The production of sub-optimal progeny by young mothers may reflect a trade-off between the competing fitness traits of a short generation time and the survival and fecundity of the progeny.

Keywords

C. elegansEnvironmentGenetically identical organismsLife-spanNematodeOocyteReproductionStarvationUnderliesVariability

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Nature due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2017, it was in position 1/64, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Multidisciplinary Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 3.36. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.13 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 14.81 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-28, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 89
  • Scopus: 92
  • Europe PMC: 60

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-28:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 249.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 249 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 118.122.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 5 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 82 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 7 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Perez MF) and Last Author (LEHNER, BEN).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been LEHNER, BEN.