TY  - BOOK
AU  - Burrell,T.
AU  - Fozard,S.
AU  - Holroyd,G.H.
AU  - French,A.P.
AU  - Pound,M.P.
AU  - Bigley,C.J.
AU  - James Taylor,C.
AU  - James Taylor,C.
TI  - The Microphenotron: A robotic miniaturized plant phenotyping platform with diverse applications in chemical biology
KW  - ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA
KW  - AUTOMATED
KW  - BIOSTIMULANTS
KW  - CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
KW  - CHEMICAL GENETICS
KW  - ERAGROSTIS TEF
KW  - PLANT PHENOTYPING
KW  - ROBOTIC
KW  - ROOT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
KW  - SHOOT DEVELOPMENT
N2  - Background: Chemical genetics provides a powerful alternative to conventional genetics for understanding gene function. However, its application to plants has been limited by the lack of a technology that allows detailed phenotyping of whole-seedling development in the context of a high-throughput chemical screen. We have therefore sought to develop an automated micro-phenotyping platform that would allow both root and shoot development to be monitored under conditions where the phenotypic effects of large numbers of small molecules can be assessed. Results: The 'Microphenotron' platform uses 96-well microtitre plates to deliver chemical treatments to seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana L. and is based around four components: (a)the 'Phytostrip', a novel seedling growth device that enables chemical treatments to be combined with the automated capture of images of developing roots and shoots; (b)an illuminated robotic platform that uses a commercially available robotic manipulator to capture images of developing shoots and roots; (c)software to control the sequence of robotic movements and integrate these with the image capture process; (d)purpose-made image analysis software for automated extraction of quantitative phenotypic data. Imaging of each plate (representing 80 separate assays)takes 4 min and can easily be performed daily for time-course studies. As currently configured, the Microphenotron has a capacity of 54 microtitre plates in a growth room footprint of 2.1 m2, giving a potential throughput of up to 4320 chemical treatments in a typical 10 days experiment. The Microphenotron has been validated by using it to screen a collection of 800 natural compounds for qualitative effects on root development and to perform a quantitative analysis of the effects of a range of concentrations of nitrate and ammonium on seedling development. Conclusions: The Microphenotron is an automated screening platform that for the first time is able to combine large numbers of individual chemical treatments with a detailed analysis of whole-seedling development, and particularly root system development. The Microphenotron should provide a powerful new tool for chemical genetics and for wider chemical biology applications, including the development of natural and synthetic chemical products for improved agricultural sustainability
UR  - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q4l0LPWl2-JBrqnDG1PMxdUd4ZgtwjgL/view?usp=drivesdk
ER  -