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Ohlsson JA, Leong JX, Elander PH, Ballhaus F, Holla S, Dauphinee AN, Johansson J, Lommel M, Hofmann G, Betnér S, Sandgren M, Schumacher K, Bozhkov PV, Minina EA. SPIRO - the automated Petri plate imaging platform designed by biologists, for biologists. Plant J 2024; 118:584-600. [PMID: 38141174 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
Phenotyping of model organisms grown on Petri plates is often carried out manually, despite the procedures being time-consuming and laborious. The main reason for this is the limited availability of automated phenotyping facilities, whereas constructing a custom automated solution can be a daunting task for biologists. Here, we describe SPIRO, the Smart Plate Imaging Robot, an automated platform that acquires time-lapse photographs of up to four vertically oriented Petri plates in a single experiment, corresponding to 192 seedlings for a typical root growth assay and up to 2500 seeds for a germination assay. SPIRO is catered specifically to biologists' needs, requiring no engineering or programming expertise for assembly and operation. Its small footprint is optimized for standard incubators, the inbuilt green LED enables imaging under dark conditions, and remote control provides access to the data without interfering with sample growth. SPIRO's excellent image quality is suitable for automated image processing, which we demonstrate on the example of seed germination and root growth assays. Furthermore, the robot can be easily customized for specific uses, as all information about SPIRO is released under open-source licenses. Importantly, uninterrupted imaging allows considerably more precise assessment of seed germination parameters and root growth rates compared with manual assays. Moreover, SPIRO enables previously technically challenging assays such as phenotyping in the dark. We illustrate the benefits of SPIRO in proof-of-concept experiments which yielded a novel insight on the interplay between autophagy, nitrogen sensing, and photoblastic response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas A Ohlsson
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Jia Xuan Leong
- Department of Algal Development and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Tübingen, 72076, Germany
- Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
- Center for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP), University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 32, Tübingen, D-72076, Germany
| | - Pernilla H Elander
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Florentine Ballhaus
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Sanjana Holla
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Adrian N Dauphinee
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | | | - Mark Lommel
- Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
- Department of Microbiology, Saarland University, Campus A1.5, Saarbrücken, 66123, Germany
| | - Gero Hofmann
- Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Staffan Betnér
- Northern Registry Centre, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, 90187, Sweden
| | - Mats Sandgren
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Karin Schumacher
- Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
| | - Peter V Bozhkov
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
| | - Elena A Minina
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, Uppsala, SE-750 07, Sweden
- Centre for Organismal Studies (COS), Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, Heidelberg, 69120, Germany
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