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.