Data for "Phenotypic robustness in growth performance peaks at mildly cold, not optimal-for-growth, temperatures"

Therefore, relative benign thermal conditions may allow for greater phenotypic robustness. Here we tested this hypothesis and investigated whether temperature maximizing phenotypic robustness coincides with that optimizing growth rate.

In our study of experimental evolution lines of two model bacteria (<i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Pseudomonas fluorescens</i>), independent genotypes exhibited the lowest variability in maximum growth rate at temperatures colder than optimal-for-growth conditions (approximately 2-13℃ lower). We further analyzed previously published datasets involving diverse taxa and found that among-species phenotypic variability in several vital biological processes also consistently peaked at certain temperatures lower than that optimizing the rates of those processes.