Three-dimensional imaging of the shoot apex in barley

Abstract

The timing of plant reproduction and inflorescence architecture have a large impact on yield of crops. Reproductive development in temperate cereals such as barley and wheat is regulated by two developmental transitions: switching of the identity in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) from vegetative to reproductive phase and conversion of the developmental fate of lateral shoot meristems generated from SAM. Although genetic studies have clarified genetic components and environmental factors that affect inflorescence architecture and its developmental process, little is known about the cellular behavior at the shoot apex including SAM and lateral primordia during development especially in Triticeae crops. We established the 3D-imaging system of barley shoot apex using a clearing method to analyze the cellular dynamics during their developmental process. In this review, we summarize the findings about the morphological characters of the shoot apex in barley and introduce our method of 3D-imaging using the shoot apex of barley.