Robotic Assay for Drought (RoAD): an automated phenotyping system for brassinosteroid and drought responses

Summary Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of plant steroid hormones involved in regulating growth, development, and stress responses. Many components of the BR pathway have previously been identified and characterized. However, BR phenotyping experiments are typically performed in a low‐throughput...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology 2021-09, Vol.107 (6), p.1837-1853
Main Authors: Xiang, Lirong, Nolan, Trevor M., Bao, Yin, Elmore, Mitch, Tuel, Taylor, Gai, Jingyao, Shah, Dylan, Wang, Ping, Huser, Nicole M., Hurd, Ashley M., McLaughlin, Sean A., Howell, Stephen H., Walley, Justin W., Yin, Yanhai, Tang, Lie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2D and 3D imaging
Algorithms
Arabidopsis
Arabidopsis - drug effects
Arabidopsis - physiology
Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics
Arabidopsis thaliana
Assaying
Automation
Biosynthesis
Brassinosteroid
Brassinosteroids
Brassinosteroids - metabolism
Corn
Drought
Droughts
Equipment Design
Experiments
Hormones
Image processing
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods
Image segmentation
leaf segmentation
Learning algorithms
Leaves
Machine Learning
Parameter identification
Phenotype
phenotypic traits
Phenotyping
Plant extracts
Plant growth
Plants
Profilometers
Propiconazole
Protein Kinases - genetics
Roads
Robot arms
Robotics
Robotics - instrumentation
Robotics - methods
Seedlings - physiology
Soil - chemistry
Steroid hormones
technical advance
Triazoles - pharmacology
Zea mays
Zea mays - physiology
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Summary:Summary Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of plant steroid hormones involved in regulating growth, development, and stress responses. Many components of the BR pathway have previously been identified and characterized. However, BR phenotyping experiments are typically performed in a low‐throughput manner, such as on Petri plates. Additionally, the BR pathway affects drought responses, but drought experiments are time consuming and difficult to control. To mitigate these issues and increase throughput, we developed the Robotic Assay for Drought (RoAD) system to perform BR and drought response experiments in soil‐grown Arabidopsis plants. RoAD is equipped with a robotic arm, a rover, a bench scale, a precisely controlled watering system, an RGB camera, and a laser profilometer. It performs daily weighing, watering, and imaging tasks and is capable of administering BR response assays by watering plants with Propiconazole (PCZ), a BR biosynthesis inhibitor. We developed image processing algorithms for both plant segmentation and phenotypic trait extraction to accurately measure traits including plant area, plant volume, leaf length, and leaf width. We then applied machine learning algorithms that utilize the extracted phenotypic parameters to identify image‐derived traits that can distinguish control, drought‐treated, and PCZ‐treated plants. We carried out PCZ and drought experiments on a set of BR mutants and Arabidopsis accessions with altered BR responses. Finally, we extended the RoAD assays to perform BR response assays using PCZ in Zea mays (maize) plants. This study establishes an automated and non‐invasive robotic imaging system as a tool to accurately measure morphological and growth‐related traits of Arabidopsis and maize plants in 3D, providing insights into the BR‐mediated control of plant growth and stress responses. Significance Statement RoAD is an automated phenotyping system for assessing brassinosteroid and drought responses in soil‐grown Arabidopsis plants. The system performs daily weighing, watering, and imaging tasks and is capable of accurately measuring morphological and growth‐related traits of Arabidopsis in 3D.
ISSN:0960-7412
1365-313X
DOI:10.1111/tpj.15401