Neurospora crassa Variation

Life history traits are predicted to trade off in evolutionary theory because limited resources allocated to one function are not available another. However, in the fungus Neurospora crassa some traits, e.g. growth rate and asexual reproduction, appear to be highly integrated, making it unclear if trade offs can or do occur. Additionally, relationships between traits can differ by environment, thus a trade off observed under some conditions are not observed in all. We use wild and lab generated phenotypic and genotypic variation in two environments to show that growth and reproduction do not trade-off among wild strains and after laboratory selection. Further, we used genome-wide genotyping to produce a window into the selection process, allowing us to connect phenotypic and genotypic outcomes. This outcome with be valuable for understanding phenotypic evolution in fungi.