Chitwood Daniel H, Topp Christopher N
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA.
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2015 Apr;24:54-60. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2015.01.009. Epub 2015 Feb 3.
The plant phenotype is infinite. Plants vary morphologically and molecularly over developmental time, in response to the environment, and genetically. Exhaustive phenotyping remains not only out of reach, but is also the limiting factor to interpreting the wealth of genetic information currently available. Although phenotyping methods are always improving, an impasse remains: even if we could measure the entirety of phenotype, how would we interpret it? We propose the concept of cryptotype to describe latent, multivariate phenotypes that maximize the separation of a priori classes. Whether the infinite points comprising a leaf outline or shape descriptors defining root architecture, statistical methods to discern the quantitative essence of an organism will be required as we approach measuring the totality of phenotype.
植物表型是无穷无尽的。植物在发育过程中、对环境的响应以及遗传方面，在形态和分子层面都存在差异。详尽的表型分析不仅难以实现，而且也是解读当前可用大量遗传信息的限制因素。尽管表型分析方法一直在改进，但仍存在一个僵局：即使我们能够测量整个表型，又该如何解读它呢？我们提出了隐型的概念，以描述潜在的、多变量的表型，这些表型能最大限度地分离先验类别。无论是构成叶片轮廓的无数点，还是定义根系结构的形状描述符，随着我们接近测量表型的整体，都将需要统计方法来辨别生物体的定量本质。
