Dynamic Plant Phenotyping for future proofing crop productivity

目前最紧迫的研究战略挑战之一是满足人口增长对粮食生产的需求，据估计，到2050年，我们需要生产大约70%的粮食，我们也必须在气候变化的情况下实现这一目标。虽然在分子生物学和转基因方法方面已经取得了重大进展，以改变植物的性能，但阻碍进展的瓶颈现在正在决定植物的表型。植物表型是指可观察到的性状（例如高度、颜色），并且植物表型是对这些性状的评估，并且在本申请中包括使用专门的相机，其在各种条件下捕获植物的空间和时间图像，并使用这些来确定关键性状，例如生长（使用RGB）、光合速率（使用叶绿素荧光）、水分损失和叶温度（使用热成像）。PlantscreenTM还采用了高光谱相机，能够在覆盖电磁波谱的不同波长范围内拍摄植物的反射图像。尽管英国的几个表型分析平台提供了表型分析功能（包括上面提到的一些传感器），但这些功能仅限于温室、小型封闭平台或田间，因此对转基因作物工作者来说，提供的功能有限。此外，我们还需要能够了解植物在真实波动环境中的表型，例如田间动态环境或未来气候条件的预测变化。因此，这里提出的设备投标将提供一个动态筛选平台（DynSCREEN），该平台具有最先进的机器人Plant ScreenTM，安装在一个新构建的动态室内环境中，能够模仿现在和未来的任何室外环境。这种能力不仅使用户能够将遗传资源转化为作物改良的目标，而且还将促进新的表型分析方法的发展。高光谱反射率将用于开发新的表型分析工具和方案，方法是选择各种反射波长，这些波长可用作无法成像的感兴趣性状的替代测量。例如，已经从与关键光合酶Rubisco的最大能力相关的高光谱反射光谱开发了模型。我们还将在埃塞克斯以前的工作的基础上，开发一种高通量的植物水分利用效率筛选方法，这是一种衡量相对于水分损失获得的碳的方法。这将通过结合叶绿素荧光的测量，提供光合电子传输的指示，与热测量，这是水分流失的代理，产生内在的水利用效率的图像。迄今为止，这在任何现有的表型分析平台中都没有实现，因此将提供独特的英国能力，并确保英国表型分析仍然处于这一动态研究领域的最前沿。

One of the most pressing current research strategic challenges is meeting the demands for food production as the population increases, and it is estimated that we need to produce around 70% more food by the year 2050 and we also must achieve this in the face of climate change. Although there has been significant advances in molecular biology and genetically modified approaches to altering plant performance the bottleneck preventing advancement is now determining the phenotype of the plant. A plant phenotype refers to observable traits (e.g. height, colour) and plant phenotyping is the assessment of such traits, and in this application include the use of specialised cameras that capture spatial and temporal images of plants under various conditions and use these to determine key traits such as growth (using RGB), photosynthetic rates (using chlorophyll fluorescence), water loss and leaf temperature (using thermography). The PlantscreenTM also employed a hyperspectral camera that is capable of taking reflectance images from plants at a range of different wavelength that covers the electromagnetic spectrum.Although several UK phenotyping platforms provide phenotyping capabilities (including some of the sensors mentioned above) these are limited to glasshouses, small contained platforms, or the field and as such provide limited if any capability for those working on GM crops. In addition we need to be able to understand the phenotype of the plant in a real-world fluctuating environment such as the dynamic environment of a field situation or the predicted changes in climatic conditions in the future. Therefore the proposed equipment bid here will provide a dynamic screening platform (DynSCREEN) with a state-of-the-art robotic Plant ScreenTM housed in a novel newly constructed dynamic indoor environment capable of mimicking any outdoor environment both now and in the future. This capability will not only enable users to translate genetic resources into targets for crop improvement, but it will also facilitate the development of new phenotyping approaches. Hyperspectral reflectance will be used to develop new phenotyping tools and protocols by selecting various reflectance wavelengths that can be used as a proxy measurement for a trait of interest that it is not possible to image. For example, models have been developed from hyperspectral reflectance spectra that correlate with the maximal capacity of the key photosynthetic enzyme Rubisco. We will also build on previous work at Essex to develop a high throughput screen for plant water use efficiency which is a measure of carbon gained relative to water loss. This will be achieved by combining measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence that provide an indication of photosynthetic electron transports, with thermal measurements which are a proxy for water loss, producing images of intrinsic water use efficiency. This to date has not been achieved in any existing phenotyping platform and therefore will provide a unique UK capability and ensure that UK phenotyping remains at the forefront of this dynamic field of research.