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My ROOT : a method and software for the semiautomatic measurement of primary root length in Arabidopsis seedlings
Author(s) -
BetegónPutze Isabel,
González Alejandro,
Sevillano Xavier,
BlascoEscámez David,
CañoDelgado Ana I.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1111/tpj.14297
Subject(s) - root (linguistics) , software , arabidopsis , hypocotyl , root system , computer science , horticulture , biology , operating system , philosophy , linguistics , biochemistry , mutant , gene
Summary Root analysis is essential for both academic and agricultural research. Despite the great advances in root phenotyping and imaging, calculating root length is still performed manually and involves considerable amounts of labor and time. To overcome these limitations, we developed My ROOT , a software for the semiautomatic quantification of root growth of seedlings growing directly on agar plates. Our method automatically determines the scale from the image of the plate, and subsequently measures the root length of the individual plants. To this aim, My ROOT combines a bottom‐up root tracking approach with a hypocotyl detection algorithm. At the same time as providing accurate root measurements, My ROOT also significantly minimizes the user intervention required during the process. Using Arabidopsis, we tested My ROOT with seedlings from different growth stages and experimental conditions. When comparing the data obtained from this software with that of manual root measurements, we found a high correlation between both methods ( R 2 = 0.997). When compared with previous developed software with similar features ( BRAT and EZ ‐Rhizo), My ROOT offered an improved accuracy for root length measurements. Therefore, My ROOT will be of great use to the plant science community by permitting high‐throughput root length measurements while saving both labor and time.