Development of an Optical Projection Tomographic System
Optical Projection Tomography (OPT) microscopy is a technique for imaging biological tissues in 3D using standard light microscopy. It was developed by James Sharpes at the University of Edinburgh in 2000. It is fast, suitable for large specimens and can utilise epifluorescent microscopy, which makes it a powerful tool for integrating cell biology with plant development.
Figure 1: Principle: a plant growing in a transparent gel (1) is imaged at different angles (2). The images of these projections are then reconstructed into a 3D image (3).
We have developed an OPT system dedicated to imaging plant root growth. The system will allow accurate acquisition of root morphology, gene expression and protein targetting data to be collected during a live experiment. Collaborations: Tracy Valentine (SCRI), Amandeep Gill (SCRI and University of Abertay) and Dmitri Grinev (SIMBIOS, University of Abertay).
Figure 2: 3D reconstruction are used to understand plant growth, development and plant/soil interactions.
