Data from: Mutation is a sufficient and robust predictor of genetic variation for mitotic spindle traits in Caenorhabditis elegans

Different types of phenotypic traits consistently exhibit different levels of genetic variation in natural populations. There are two potential explanations: either mutation produces genetic variation at different rates, or natural selection removes or promotes genetic variation at different rates. Whether mutation or selection is of greater general importance is a longstanding unresolved question in evolutionary genetics. We report mutational variances (VM) for 19 traits related to the first mitotic cell division in C. elegans, and compare them to the standing genetic variances (VG) for the same suite of traits in a worldwide collection C. elegans. Two robust conclusions emerge. First, the mutational process is highly repeatable: the correlation between VM in two independent sets of mutation accumulation lines is ~0.9. Second, VM for a trait is a good predictor of VG for that trait: the correlation between VM and VG is ~0.9. This result is predicted for a population at mutation-selection balance; it is not predicted if balancing selection plays a primary role in maintaining genetic variation.Mitotic spindle traits in C. elegansThe data included in this file are the raw measurements for 19 traits associated with the first mitotic cell division. The first column is the Species (C. elegans), the second column is the Genotype (N2 MA line, PB306 MA line, or wild isolate); the third column is the Strain designation, the fourth column is the Treatment (MA control, MA line, or wild isolate), the fifth column is the Line number, the sixth column is the Replicate number, and the remaining columns are the traits. The traits are described in the Methods and Materials of the associated publication.19traits_forDryad.cs