Imagery Unit, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées (IRBA), 91220 Brétigny-sur-Orge, France.
Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay (IPS2), INRAE, CNRS, University of Paris-Saclay, Bâtiment 630, 91192 Gif sur Yvette, France.
Cells. 2022 Oct 31;11(21):3452. doi: 10.3390/cells11213452.
Flower morphologies shape the accessibility to nectar and pollen, two major traits that determine plant-pollinator interactions and reproductive success. Melon is an economically important crop whose reproduction is completely pollinator-dependent and, as such, is a valuable model for studying crop-ecological functions. High-resolution imaging techniques, such as micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), have recently become popular for phenotyping in plant science. Here, we implemented micro-CT to study floral morphology and honey bees in the context of nectar-related traits without a sample preparation to improve the phenotyping precision and quality. We generated high-quality 3D models of melon male and female flowers and compared the geometric measures. Micro-CT allowed for a relatively easy and rapid generation of 3D volumetric data on nectar, nectary, flower, and honey bee body sizes. A comparative analysis of male and female flowers showed a strong positive correlation between the nectar gland volume and the volume of the secreted nectar. We modeled the nectar level inside the flower and reconstructed a 3D model of the accessibility by honey bees. By combining data on flower morphology, the honey bee size and nectar volume, this protocol can be used to assess the flower accessibility to pollinators in a high resolution, and can readily carry out genotypes comparative analysis to identify nectar-pollination-related traits.
花形态决定了花蜜和花粉的可及性，花蜜和花粉是决定植物-传粉者相互作用和生殖成功的两个主要特征。甜瓜是一种经济上重要的作物，其繁殖完全依赖传粉者，因此是研究作物-生态功能的有价值的模式。高分辨率成像技术，如微计算机断层扫描（micro-CT），最近在植物科学中的表型分析中变得流行。在这里，我们实施了 micro-CT 来研究与花蜜相关特征的花形态和蜜蜂，而无需进行样品制备以提高表型分析的精度和质量。我们生成了甜瓜雄性和雌性花的高质量 3D 模型，并比较了几何测量值。Micro-CT 允许相对容易和快速地生成关于花蜜、蜜腺、花和蜜蜂身体大小的 3D 体积数据。对雄性和雌性花的比较分析表明，花蜜腺体积与分泌的花蜜体积之间存在强烈的正相关。我们模拟了花内部的花蜜水平，并通过蜜蜂重建了可及性的 3D 模型。通过结合花形态、蜜蜂大小和花蜜体积的数据，可以使用该方案以高分辨率评估花对传粉者的可及性，并可以方便地进行基因型比较分析以鉴定与花蜜传粉相关的特征。
