[Methods of high-throughput plant phenotyping for large-scale breeding and genetic experiments].

Phenomics is a field of science at the junction of biology and informatics which solves the problems of rapid, accurate estimation of the plant phenotype; it was rapidly developed because of the need to analyze phenotypic characteristics in large scale genetic and breeding experiments in plants. It is based on using the methods of computer image analysis and integration of biological data. Owing to automation, new approaches make it possible to considerably accelerate the process of estimating the characteristics of a phenotype, to increase its accuracy, and to remove a subjectivism (inherent to humans). The main technologies of high-throughput plant phenotyping in both controlled and field conditions, their advantages and disadvantages, and also the prospects of their use for the efficient solution of problems of plant genetics and breeding are presented in the review.

[Genetic analysis of leaf pubescence in isogenic lines of conmmon wheat Novosibirsk 67].

In this study, genetic and monosomic analyses of the leaf pubescence of ANK 7A, ANK 7B, and ANK 7C wheat isogenic lines were carried out based on the Novosibirsk 67 wheat variety. According to visual analysis, the variety-recipient has a soft, uniform pubescence, and lines have trichomes on the surfaces of their leaves inherited from the two. Chinese varieties and one Soviet variety. Using the high throughput phenotyping method LHDetect2, which allows one to allocate the phenotypic classes of offspring in crosses based on the quantitative characteristics of leaf pubescence, it was found that chromosome 7B of the isogenic lines has a gene that determines the presence of long trichomes, and chromosome 7D of the Novosibirsk 67 variety has a gene that increases the density of pubescence. The obtained data allowed for the formulation of a hypothesis for the existence of a homoallelic series of genes that control leaf pubescence in the chromosomes of the seventh homeologous group of common wheat.

Combined in silico/in vivo analysis of mechanisms providing for root apical meristem self-organization and maintenance.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The root apical meristem (RAM) is the plant stem cell niche which provides for the formation and continuous development of the root. Auxin is the main regulator of RAM functioning, and auxin maxima coincide with the sites of RAM initiation and maintenance. Auxin gradients are formed due to local auxin biosynthesis and polar auxin transport. The PIN family of auxin transporters plays a critical role in polar auxin transport, and two mechanisms of auxin maximum formation in the RAM based on PIN-mediated auxin transport have been proposed to date: the reverse fountain and the reflected flow mechanisms. METHODS: The two mechanisms are combined here in in silico studies of auxin distribution in intact roots and roots cut into two pieces in the proximal meristem region. In parallel, corresponding experiments were performed in vivo using DR5::GFP Arabidopsis plants. KEY RESULTS: The reverse fountain and the reflected flow mechanism naturally cooperate for RAM patterning and maintenance in intact root. Regeneration of the RAM in decapitated roots is provided by the reflected flow mechanism. In the excised root tips local auxin biosynthesis either alone or in cooperation with the reverse fountain enables RAM maintenance. CONCLUSIONS: The efficiency of a dual-mechanism model in guiding biological experiments on RAM regeneration and maintenance is demonstrated. The model also allows estimation of the concentrations of auxin and PINs in root cells during development and under various treatments. The dual-mechanism model proposed here can be a powerful tool for the study of several different aspects of auxin function in root.

[Morphological and genetic characteristics of leaf hairiness in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as analyzed by computer-aided phenotyping].

Computer-aided image processing was used to study the morphology of leaf hairiness in the wheat cultivars Saratovskaya 29 and Golubka, as well as the introgressed strain 102/00i of the cultivar Rodina carrying the hairiness control gene introgressed from Aegilops speltoides. Morphological differences in leaf hairiness were detected and described in detail. The genetic control ofhairiness was studied in two cultivars (Golubka and Saratovskaya 29) with similar hairiness patterns. Crossing these cultivars with the cultivar Rodina showed a monogenic inheritance in the cultivar Golubka and a digenic inheritance in the cultivar Saratovskaya 29, which has a denser hairiness. In the strain 102/00i and the cultivar Golubka, the number of trichomes was positively correlated with their mean length. The cultivar Golubka was used as an example to study the effect of environmental conditions on the formation of hairiness. Plants of these cultivars were found to form more but shorter trichomes.