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TAIM: Tool for Analyzing Root Images to Calculate the Infection Rate of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
Kaoru Muta1, Shiho Takata2, Yuzuko Utsumi1
1Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan.
Abstract:
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) infect plant roots and are hypothesized to improve plant growth. Recently, AMF is now available for axenic culture. Therefore, AMF is expected to be used as a microbial fertilizer. To evaluate the usefulness of AMF as a microbial fertilizer, we need to investigate the relationship between the degree of root colonization of AMF and plant growth. The method popularly used for calculation of the degree of root colonization, termed the magnified intersections method, is performed manually and is too labor-intensive to enable an extensive survey to be undertaken. Therefore, we automated the magnified intersections method by developing an application named "Tool for Analyzing root images to calculate the Infection rate of arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi: TAIM." TAIM is a web-based application that calculates the degree of AMF colonization from images using automated computer vision and pattern recognition techniques. Experimental results showed that TAIM correctly detected sampling areas for calculation of the degree of infection and classified the sampling areas with 87.4% accuracy. TAIM is publicly accessible at http://taim.imlab.jp/.
Insights
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be used as microbial fertilizers. A new tool, TAIM, automates root colonization analysis, making AMF research more efficient.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Science
- Mycology
- Plant Biology
Background:
- Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonize plant roots and show potential for improving plant growth.
- The availability of AMF in axenic culture facilitates their development as microbial fertilizers.
- Assessing the relationship between AMF root colonization and plant growth is crucial for practical application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an automated method for quantifying the degree of AMF root colonization.
- To evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of the developed automated tool compared to manual methods.
- To facilitate extensive surveys on AMF-plant interactions for microbial fertilizer development.
Main Methods:
- Development of a web-based application named "Tool for Analyzing root images to calculate the Infection rate of arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi" (TAIM).
- Implementation of automated computer vision and pattern recognition techniques within TAIM.
- Validation of TAIM's performance against manual calculations of root colonization.
Main Results:
- TAIM successfully automates the magnified intersections method for calculating AMF root colonization.
- The application accurately detected sampling areas for infection rate calculation.
- TAIM achieved an 87.4% accuracy in classifying sampling areas for AMF colonization.
Conclusions:
- TAIM provides an efficient and accurate automated solution for quantifying AMF root colonization.
- The developed tool can significantly reduce labor intensity, enabling larger-scale research.
- TAIM is expected to accelerate the evaluation and application of AMF as microbial fertilizers.
