Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem
The maize (Zea mays subsp. mays L.) shoot apical meristem (SAM) is a self-replenishing pool of stem cells that produces the above-ground plant. Improvements in image acquisition and processing techniques have allowed high-throughput, quantitative genetic analyses of SAM morphology. As with other lar...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.01651/full |
| _version_ | 1818542364520611840 |
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| author | Samuel Leiboff Christopher K. DeAllie Michael J. Scanlon |
| author_facet | Samuel Leiboff Christopher K. DeAllie Michael J. Scanlon |
| author_sort | Samuel Leiboff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The maize (Zea mays subsp. mays L.) shoot apical meristem (SAM) is a self-replenishing pool of stem cells that produces the above-ground plant. Improvements in image acquisition and processing techniques have allowed high-throughput, quantitative genetic analyses of SAM morphology. As with other large-scale phenotyping efforts, meaningful descriptions of genetic architecture depend on the collection of relevant measures. In this study, we tested two quantitative image processing methods to describe SAM morphology within the genus Zea, represented by 33 wild relatives of maize and 841 lines from a domesticated maize by wild teosinte progenitor (MxT) backcross population, along with previously-reported data from several hundred diverse maize inbred lines. Approximating the MxT SAM as a paraboloid derived eight parabolic estimators of SAM morphology that identified highly-overlapping QTL on eight chromosomes, which implicated previously-identified SAM morphology candidate genes along with new QTL for SAM morphological variation. Using a Fourier-transform related method of comprehensive shape analysis, we detected cryptic SAM shape variation that identified QTL on six chromosomes. We found that Fourier transform shape descriptors and parabolic estimation measures are highly correlated and identified similar QTL. Analysis of shoot apex contours from 73 anciently-diverged plant taxa further suggested that parabolic shape may be a universal feature of plant SAMs, regardless of evolutionary clade. Future high-throughput examinations of SAM morphology may benefit from the ease of acquisition and phenotypic fidelity of modeling the SAM as a paraboloid. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T22:21:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc90b90f42c0418589782816f05d945f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-462X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T22:21:06Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc90b90f42c0418589782816f05d945f2022-12-22T00:48:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2016-11-01710.3389/fpls.2016.01651219814Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristemSamuel Leiboff0Christopher K. DeAllie1Michael J. Scanlon2Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell UniversityThe maize (Zea mays subsp. mays L.) shoot apical meristem (SAM) is a self-replenishing pool of stem cells that produces the above-ground plant. Improvements in image acquisition and processing techniques have allowed high-throughput, quantitative genetic analyses of SAM morphology. As with other large-scale phenotyping efforts, meaningful descriptions of genetic architecture depend on the collection of relevant measures. In this study, we tested two quantitative image processing methods to describe SAM morphology within the genus Zea, represented by 33 wild relatives of maize and 841 lines from a domesticated maize by wild teosinte progenitor (MxT) backcross population, along with previously-reported data from several hundred diverse maize inbred lines. Approximating the MxT SAM as a paraboloid derived eight parabolic estimators of SAM morphology that identified highly-overlapping QTL on eight chromosomes, which implicated previously-identified SAM morphology candidate genes along with new QTL for SAM morphological variation. Using a Fourier-transform related method of comprehensive shape analysis, we detected cryptic SAM shape variation that identified QTL on six chromosomes. We found that Fourier transform shape descriptors and parabolic estimation measures are highly correlated and identified similar QTL. Analysis of shoot apex contours from 73 anciently-diverged plant taxa further suggested that parabolic shape may be a universal feature of plant SAMs, regardless of evolutionary clade. Future high-throughput examinations of SAM morphology may benefit from the ease of acquisition and phenotypic fidelity of modeling the SAM as a paraboloid.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.01651/fullQuantitative Trait Loci (QTL)image analysisMorphometricsDiscrete Cosine TransformZea |
| spellingShingle | Samuel Leiboff Christopher K. DeAllie Michael J. Scanlon Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem Frontiers in Plant Science Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) image analysis Morphometrics Discrete Cosine Transform Zea |
| title | Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| title_full | Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| title_fullStr | Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| title_full_unstemmed | Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| title_short | Modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| title_sort | modeling the morphometric evolution of the maize shoot apical meristem |
| topic | Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) image analysis Morphometrics Discrete Cosine Transform Zea |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2016.01651/full |
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