Maize and Arabidopsis phenotyping platforms assist to unravel molecular mechanisms regulating growth

Stijn Dhondt, VIB, Ghent, Belgium

February 17th 2014, IPPS, Chennia, India

Genes enhancing leaf size

Molecular mechanisms controlling leaf size

Gene regulatory networks (review Gonzalez et al. 2013, TIPS)

Integrated in a leaf developmental context

Arabidopsis Maize

Multi-level Arabidopsis phenotyping

IMAGE ANALYSIS SCRIPTS DATA ANALYSIS PIPELINES

PLANT

ORGAN

TISSUE

CELL epidermal cell analysis

leaf venation pattern

leaf surface area

projected rosette area

(review Dhondt et al. 2013, TIPS)

Arabidopsis WIWAM

Maize WIWAM

PHENOVISION

Robotics for in vivo plant phenotyping

An overlying portal robot, positioned in a growth room, for the treatment of Arabidopsis plants. A robotic arm picks individual pots from the top. Images are acquired by a top view camera.

An underlying portal robot, positioned in a growth room, for the treatment of small maize plants. A robotic arm picks individual pots from the side. Images are acquired from different

angles by a side view camera.

An integrated greenhouse solution for the automated phenotyping of maize plants. A conveyor system brings the plants to imaging cabins, harboring a range of cameras.

Maize imaging using PHENOVISION

High-resolution hyperspectral imaging

VNIR (400 – 1000 nm) SWIR (1000 -2500 nm)

RGB imaging

IR imaging

Cabin 1 Cabin 2

Platform high-lights

• Plants rotate while watering for an optimal water distribution

• High-precision irrigation pumps

• Integration of environmental sensors

• Intuitive user interface

• Open database structure

PIPPA

PSB Interface for Plant Phenotype Analysis

database platform connector

chart component

analysis scripts

web interface

Data management and image analysis

Integrating phenotyping and molecular genetics

PLANT

ORGAN

TISSUE

CELL epidermal cell analysis

leaf venation pattern

leaf surface area

Plant surface area (2D + 3D)

physiology traits

Molecular genetics

growth traits

WATER USE

SPECTRAL CONTENT

hyperspectral image analysis

thermal infrared image analysis

non-transgenics

transgenics

non-transgenics

Towards leaf biomass accumulation

transgenics

Acknowledgments

Nathalie Wuyts Rafael Abbeloos Anthony Trog Dirk Inzé

Systems Biology of Yield group