Light Gradient-Based Screening of Arabidopsis thaliana on a 384-Well Type Plant Array Chip.

Youn-Hee Park,Je-Kyun Park

doi:10.3390/mi11020191

Youn-Hee Park, Je-Kyun Park

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11020191

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Abstract

Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), as a model for plant research, is widely used for various aspects of plant science. To provide a more sophisticated and microscopic environment for the germination and growth of Arabidopsis, we report a 384-well type plant array chip in which each Arabidopsis seed is independently seeded in a solid medium. The plant array chip is made of a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) acrylic material and is assembled with a home-made light gradient module to investigate the light effects that significantly affect the germination and growth of Arabidopsis. The light gradient module was used to observe the growth pattern of seedlings according to the intensity of the white light and to efficiently screen for the influence of the white light. To investigate the response to red light (600 nm), which stimulates seed germination, the light gradient module was also applied to the germination test. As a result, the germination results showed that the plant array chip can be used to simultaneously screen wild type seeds and phytochrome B mutant seeds on a single array chip according to the eight red light intensities.

Highlights

The genetic diversity and viability of plants depend on the environmental factors that are applied to solid media, as well as the intrinsic factors of the seed
Conventional seeding in a Petri dish requires the continuous tracking of each object to observe its temporal variation, but it is difficult to observe the size and shape of the seeds because there are no physical partitions in an agarose growth environment [3]
The plant array chip is made of a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) acrylic material and is assembled with a light gradient module to investigate light effects that significantly affect the germination and growth of Arabidopsis

Summary

Introduction

The genetic diversity and viability of plants depend on the environmental factors that are applied to solid media, as well as the intrinsic factors of the seed. The plant array chip is made of a PMMA acrylic material and is assembled with a light gradient module to investigate light effects that significantly affect the germination and growth of Arabidopsis. If the seeds germinated by red light are exposed to darkness, the seedlings are etiolated, in which the elongation of hypocotyl is dominant, and the etiolated seedlings are yellowish-white due to a lack of chlorophyll [26] Because of this mechanism, the ratio of red light to far-red light plays a very important role in seed germination [27]. A light gradient module was exploited to create various light intensity conditions in a 384-well type plant array on a single chip, which can be used for screening of germination and growth by light. By using a light gradient module, we demonstrate a highly efficient tool for changing germination conditions and controlling the germination process in a plant array chip

Design and Concept

Integration of a Light Gradient Module

Findings

Conclusions