AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY

The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006

Seeing into plant cells and tissues — from organelles to organisms
by Dr Rosemary White, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Plant Industry

There have been major advances in light, infra-red, fluorescence, confocal and electron microscopy in the past 5-10 years. Together with greatly increased computational power enabling 3-D computer tomography and sophisticated image analysis, these advances allow us to probe in unprecedented detail the dynamic behaviour of plants in their environment. Applications include in vivo imaging of plant growth processes and development from cell to plant level, monitoring of single or multiple gene activities, and detection of ‘hidden’ phenotypes, with the ultimate goal of selecting new elite breeding lines.

Linkages between CSIRO, ANU and Jülich allow collaborating scientists access to a wide range of imaging facilities. The National Plant Phenomics Initiative provides an opportunity to build on existing linkages by exploiting new technologies and developing new expertise in plant imaging.