Chapter 11 Detecting diversity—a new holistic, exploratory approach bridging phenotype and genotype

Abstract

This chapter presents experimental evidence of a new, interdisciplinarily inspired opportunity to explore biodiversity based on global spectroscopic and imaging data sets from plant phenotypes from which specific data could be extracted to match data from the genotype. From the point of view of data acquisition, it seems easier to tap data from the genotype by gene sequencing than from the phenotype using traditional biometric methods. The chapter answers the question is it a viable and economic alternative to keeping genebanks for reasons of security to preserve the expected, yet undefined genetic variation, which may or may not be available. The chapter presents a new holistic, exploratory approach bridging phenotype and genotype. The application of this technology in the detection of biodiversity in barley seeds is demonstrated in two steps, first by carrying out measurements using global, highly reproducible spectroscopic screening analyses to create large covariate data sets, and then exploring the data with mathematical experiments using multivariate, chemometric algorithms in the computer.