Abstract
In the RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center, more than 60,000 activation tagged mutant lines of Arabidopsis have been produced for the saturated mutagenesis of the genome. To find the function of a gene, systematic analysis of phenotypes is vital. However, conventional phenotypic analysis of mutant screens depends mainly on qualitative descriptions after visual observation of morphological traits. We have proposed a new methodology of phenotypic analysis based on precise three-dimensional (3D) measurement by a laser range finder and automatic data processing. In this report, we introduce the methods of shape modeling and data processing with the micro X-ray computed tomography (μCT) as a new 3D measurement device. Moreover, on the computationally phenotypic analysis, advantage or disadvantage by using μCT is described with comparing to the laser surface scanner.
In addition, dry seeds of a wild-type and several mutants are analyzed as an example of morphological trait extraction.
