Wharton Cara, Beacham Andrew, Gifford Miriam L, Monaghan James
Centre for Crop and Environmental Sciences, Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 8NB, UK.
School of Life Sciences and The Zeeman Institute for Systems Biology & Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research, The University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands, CV4 7AL, UK.
Plant Methods. 2025 Mar 2;21(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s13007-025-01348-x.
There is much interest in how roots can be manipulated to improve crop performance in a changing climate, yet root research is made difficult by the challenges of visualising the root system accurately, particularly when grown in natural environments such as soil. Scientists often resort to use of agar- or paper-based assays, which provide unnatural growing media, with the roots often exposed to light. Alternatives include rhizotrons or x-ray computed tomography, which require specialist and expensive pieces of equipment, not accessible to those in developing countries most affected by climate change. Another option is excavation of roots, however, this is time-consuming and near impossible to achieve without some degree of root damage. Therefore, new, affordable but reliable alternatives for root phenotyping are necessary.
This study reports a novel, low cost, Rootrainer-based system for root phenotyping. Rootrainers were tilted at an angle, in a rhizotron-like set-up. This encouraged root growth on the bottom plane of the Rootrainers, and since Rootrainers open (in a book-like fashion), root growth can be easily observed. This new technique was successfully used to uncover significant genotypic variance in rooting traits for a selection of lettuce (L. sativa) varieties across multiple timepoints.
This novel Rootrainertron method has many advantages over existing methods of phenotyping seedling roots. Rootrainers are cheap, and readily available from garden centres, unlike rhizotrons which are expensive and only available from specialist suppliers. Rootrainers allow the roots to grow in substrate medium, providing a significant advantage over agar and paper assays.This approach offers an affordable and relevant root phenotyping option and makes root phenotyping more accessible and applicable for researchers.
在不断变化的气候条件下，如何通过调控根系来提高作物性能备受关注。然而，准确可视化根系系统面临诸多挑战，这使得根系研究困难重重，尤其是当植物生长在土壤等自然环境中时。科学家们常常借助基于琼脂或纸张的测定方法，但这些方法提供的是非自然生长介质，根系往往暴露在光照下。其他方法包括根箱或X射线计算机断层扫描，然而这些方法需要专业且昂贵的设备，受气候变化影响最大的发展中国家的研究人员难以获得。另一种选择是挖掘根系，但这既耗时，而且在不造成一定程度根系损伤的情况下几乎无法实现。因此，需要新的、经济实惠且可靠的根系表型分析替代方法。
本研究报告了一种基于新型低成本Rootrainer的根系表型分析系统。Rootrainer以类似根箱的设置倾斜一定角度。这促使根系在Rootrainer的底部平面生长，并且由于Rootrainer（以书本开合的方式）打开，根系生长情况能够轻易被观察到。这项新技术成功用于揭示多个时间点上一系列生菜（L. sativa）品种在生根性状上的显著基因型差异。
这种新型的Rootrainertron方法相较于现有的幼苗根系表型分析方法具有诸多优势。Rootrainer价格便宜，在园艺中心即可轻松买到，而根箱则价格昂贵，只能从专业供应商处获得。Rootrainer能让根系在基质介质中生长，这比琼脂和纸张测定方法具有显著优势。这种方法提供了一种经济实惠且适用的根系表型分析选择，使根系表型分析对研究人员来说更容易实现且更具实用性。
