Data from: Quantitative genetics of temperature performance curves of Neurospora crassa

Earth's temperature is increasing due to anthropogenic CO2 emissions;
and organisms need either to adapt to higher temperatures, migrate into
colder areas, or face extinction. Temperature affects nearly all aspects
of an organism's physiology via its influence on metabolic rate and
protein structure, therefore genetic adaptation to increased temperature
may be much harder to achieve compared to other abiotic stresses. There is
still much to be learned about the evolutionary potential for adaptation
to higher temperatures, therefore we studied the quantitative genetics of
growth rates in different temperatures that make up the thermal
performance curve of the fungal model system Neurospora crassa. We studied
the amount of genetic variation for thermal performance curves and
examined possible genetic constraints by estimating the G-matrix. We
observed a substantial amount of genetic variation for growth in different
temperatures, and most genetic variation was for performance curve
elevation. Contrary to common theoretical assumptions, we did not find
strong evidence for genetic trade-offs for growth between hotter and
colder temperatures. We also simulated short term evolution of thermal
performance curves of N. crassa, and suggest that they can have versatile
responses to selection.