Automatic quantification of morphological traits via three-dimensional measurement of Arabidopsis

Many mutants have been isolated from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and recent important genetic resources, such as T-DNA knockout lines, facilitate the speed of identifying new mutants. However, present phenotypic analysis of mutant screens depends mainly on qualitative descriptions after visual observation of morphological traits. We propose a novel method of phenotypic analysis based on precise three-dimensional (3D) measurement by a laser range finder (LRF) and automatic data processing. We measured the 3D surfaces of young plants of two Arabidopsis ecotypes and successfully defined two new traits, the direction of the blade surface and epinasty of the blade, quantitatively. The proposed method enables us to obtain quantitative and precise descriptions of plant morphologies compared to conventional 2D measurement. The method will open a way to find new traits from mutant pools or natural ecotypes based on 3D data.