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Live Plant Cell Tracking: Fiji plugin to analyze cell proliferation dynamics and understand morphogenesis
Paul Hernández-Herrera1, Yamel Ugartechea-Chirino2, Héctor H Torres-Martínez3
1Laboratorio de Imágenes y Visión por Computadora, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd. de México, C.P. 04510, Mexico.
Plant Physiology
|November 18, 2021
Summary
A new plugin, Live Plant Cell Tracking (LiPlaCeT), enables 4D cell tracking and lineage analysis in plant roots. This tool aids in studying cell proliferation and morphogenesis, even with challenging image data.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Microscopy
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Live-imaging microscopy generates vast datasets for plant morphogenesis studies.
- Analyzing complex cell population dynamics in 3D and 4D remains a significant challenge.
- Existing automated methods can fail with low or variable signal-to-noise ratios in microscopy images.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a user-friendly plugin for 4D cell tracking and lineage analysis in plant roots.
- To provide a pipeline for analyzing cell proliferation and morphogenesis dynamics.
- To facilitate the study of cell population dynamics in live plant tissues.
Main Methods:
- Development of the "Live Plant Cell Tracking" (LiPlaCeT) plugin for ImageJ.
- Integration of ergonomic manual curation tools for robust cell tracking.
- Application of the pipeline for 4D cell tracking, lineage analysis, and population dynamics in Arabidopsis roots.
- Utilizing ParaView software for automated analysis of cell population dynamics.
Main Results:
- LiPlaCeT enables accurate 4D cell tracking and lineage analysis, even with low signal-to-noise microscopy data.
- The pipeline successfully analyzed cell proliferation, clonal relations, and genealogical trees in root primordia.
- LiPlaCeT generated whole-tissue data on cell length, position, growth, displacement, and proliferation in the root apical meristem.
Conclusions:
- The LiPlaCeT plugin and associated pipeline offer a powerful solution for analyzing complex cell population dynamics in live plant imaging.
- This tool enhances the study of morphogenesis and cell proliferation in plant roots and other organs.
- LiPlaCeT simplifies manual cell tracking, making advanced live-imaging analysis more accessible.
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