Transgenerational plasticity of dispersal-related traits in a ciliate: genotype-dependency and fitness consequences

The data presented here are those used in the paper : CAYUELA H., JACOB
S., SCHTICKZELLE N., VERDONCK R., PHILIPPE H., LAPORTE M., HUET M.,
BERNATCHEZ L., LEGRAND D. Transgenerational plasticity of
dispersal-related traits in a ciliate: genotype-dependency and fitness
consequences. Oikos. DOI: 10.1111/oik.08846 Phenotypic plasticity, the
ability of one genotype to produce different phenotypes in different
environments, plays a central role in species’ response to environmental
changes. Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) allows the transmission of
this environmentally-induced phenotypic variation across generations, and
can influence adaptation. To date, the genetic control of TGP, its
long-term stability, and its potential costs remain largely unknown,
mostly because empirical demonstrations of TGP across many generations in
several genetic backgrounds are scarce. In the paper of Cayuela et al., we
examined how genotype determines the TGP of phenotypic traits related to
dispersal, a fundamental process in ecology and evolution. We used an
experimental approach in Tetrahymena thermophila, a ciliate model-species,
to determine if and how phenotypic changes expressed following a dispersal
treatment are inherited over multiple generations. The data include
morphological and movement traits, dispersal rates, and cell growth data
measured before and after dispersal trials. We considered different
genotypes and different populations within each genotype.