In the absence of pollination, female reproductive organs senesce leading to an irrevocable loss in the reproductive potential of the flower, which directly affects seed set. In self-pollinating crops like wheat (Triticum aestivum), the post-anthesis viability of unpollinated carpels has been overlooked, despite its importance for hybrid seed production systems. To advance our knowledge of carpel development in the absence of pollination, we created a high-throughput phenotyping approach to quantify stigma and ovary morphology. We demonstrate the suitability of the approach, which uses light microscopy imaging and machine learning, for the analysis of floral organ traits in field-grown plants using fresh and fixed samples. We show that the unpollinated carpel undergoes a well-defined initial growth phase, followed by a peak phase (in which stigma area reaches its maximum and the radial expansion of the ovary slows), and a final deterioration phase. These developmental dynamics were consistent across years and could be used to classify male-sterile cultivars. This phenotyping approach provides a new tool for examining carpel development, which we hope will help advance research into female fertility of wheat.
A scalable phenotyping approach for female floral organ development and senescence in the absence of pollination in wheat
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Award Id(s): BB/M011216/1
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): European Research Council
- Award Id(s): ERC-2019-COG-866328
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Royal Society
- Award Id(s): UF150081
- Funder(s):
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- Accepted Manuscript 05 September 2022
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Marina Millan-Blanquez, Matthew Hartley, Nicholas Bird, Yann Manes, Cristobal Uauy, Scott Boden; A scalable phenotyping approach for female floral organ development and senescence in the absence of pollination in wheat. Development 2022; dev.200889. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.200889
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