Ruppel Mia, Nelson Sven K, Sidberry Grace, Mitchell Madison, Kick Daniel, Thomas Shawn K, Guill Katherine E, Oliver Melvin J, Washburn Jacob D
Department of Biomedical, Biological, and Chemical Engineering University of Missouri Columbia Missouri USA.
Director of Plant Science Heliponix, LLC Evansville Indiana USA.
Appl Plant Sci. 2023 Aug 28;11(6):e11541. doi: 10.1002/aps3.11541. eCollection 2023 Nov-Dec.
Higher temperatures across the globe are causing an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts. In agricultural crops, this results in reduced yields, financial losses, and increased food costs at the supermarket. Root growth maintenance in drying soils plays a major role in a plant's ability to survive and perform under drought, but phenotyping root growth is extremely difficult due to roots being under the soil.
RootBot is an automated high-throughput phenotyping robot that eliminates many of the difficulties and reduces the time required for performing drought-stress studies on primary roots. RootBot simulates root growth conditions using transparent plates to create a gap that is filled with soil and polyethylene glycol (PEG) to simulate low soil moisture. RootBot has a gantry system with vertical slots to hold the transparent plates, which theoretically allows for evaluating more than 50 plates at a time. Software pipelines were also co-opted, developed, tested, and extensively refined for running the RootBot imaging process, storing and organizing the images, and analyzing and extracting data.
The RootBot platform and the lessons learned from its design and testing represent a valuable resource for better understanding drought tolerance mechanisms in roots, as well as for identifying breeding and genetic engineering targets for crop plants.
全球气温升高导致干旱发生的频率和严重程度增加。对于农作物而言，这会导致产量下降、经济损失以及超市食品成本上升。在干旱土壤中维持根系生长对植物在干旱条件下的存活和表现能力起着重要作用，但由于根系生长在土壤之下，对根系生长进行表型分析极为困难。
RootBot是一种自动化的高通量表型分析机器人，它消除了许多困难，并减少了对初生根进行干旱胁迫研究所需的时间。RootBot使用透明板模拟根系生长条件，以制造一个间隙，并用土壤和聚乙二醇（PEG）填充该间隙，以模拟低土壤湿度。RootBot有一个带有垂直插槽的龙门系统来固定透明板，理论上一次可评估50多个板。还选用、开发、测试并广泛完善了软件管道，用于运行RootBot成像过程、存储和整理图像以及分析和提取数据。
RootBot平台及其设计和测试中吸取的经验教训是宝贵的资源，有助于更好地理解根系的耐旱机制，以及确定农作物的育种和基因工程目标。
