Plant-Microbe Interactions phenotyping

NPEC’s Helios phenotyping facility for the quantitive description of shoot architectural traits and the localisation and quantification of fluorescent proteins expressed by plant shoots or associated microorganisms.

Helios will be able to host between 1260 and 63 plants depending on size and with maximum heights of 100 cm. Automated plant handling and precise irrigation under controlled environmental conditions will allow for optimal experimental conditions and will be followed by phenotyping via 3D laser scanning triangulation and RGB, fluorescence and VNIR hyperspectral imaging.

Helios will be created in accordance with the PMC-III restriction level to allow work with GM microorganisms and is developed by Photon Systems Instruments.

NPEC’s high-throughput in vitro root phenotyper, the Hades. The system will enable quantitive description of root growth and architecture, and the localisation and quantification of fluorescent proteins expressed by plant roots or by root-associated microorganisms.

Moreover, Hades will allow non-destructive and automated close range assessment of plants functional dynamics by means of VNIR hyperspectral imaging. The system will fully automate the processes of filling petri-dishes with agar solidified medium, sowing seeds, vernalisation of seeds and growing plants in appropriate environmental conditions.

Moreover it will allow complex and automated treatment of plants with microbes or synthetic communities thereof. The high-throughput plant cultivation in combination with state-of-the-art image acquisition will unprecedented experimental designs that can include 10,000 root systems on 2000 petri-dishes. Installation is scheduled end of 2021.