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High-Throughput Quantification of Root Growth

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Measuring Roots

Abstract

In this chapter, we describe and discuss our experience of developing high-throughput imaging systems within the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB), at the University of Nottingham. After an introductory literature review, a description of the development of robot imaging hardware for high-throughput digital imaging of Arabidopsis thaliana roots inside a growth room is presented. This is followed by a description of the imaging software and techniques that have been developed to analyse such images. The intention of the chapter is to provide an unfamiliar reader with a practical overview of the subject, from the perspective of a team of engineers and computer scientists who have worked together to produce a high-throughput imaging system in active use by plant biologists.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank colleagues and collaborators at CPIB and the University of Nottingham, including Chris Payne, Oya Aksoy, Charles Long and Michael Pearce (robot development); Tara Holman, Susana Ubeda-Tomás (sample imaging and RootTrace development); Michael Wilson and Michael Stout (data management). CPIB is funded by the BBSRC and EPSRC Systems Biology Initiative.

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Correspondence to Andrew French .

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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French, A., Wells, D., Everitt, N., Pridmore, T. (2012). High-Throughput Quantification of Root Growth. In: Mancuso, S. (eds) Measuring Roots. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22067-8_7

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