Oral Presentation International Plant Molecular Biology Conference 2024

Using Plant Tracer to explore plant movements. (#486)

Eric D Brenner 1 , Simson Garfinkel 2 , Steven E Barber 1 , JoAnn Juzefyk 3 , Yixiang Mao 4 , Al Olsen 5 , Jan L Plass 5
  1. Pace University, New York, NEW YORK, United States
  2. Chief Scientist, BasisTech, LLC, Somerville , MA
  3. Brooklyn College, Brooklyn
  4. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn
  5. Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, New York

Movement is a universal characteristic all plants utilize to obtain optimal position for survival.  Plant movements include tropisms, nictations, and nutations and can be used as a mode to activate student interest in plants.  Circumnutation is the back-and-forth swaying common to most plant appendages, particularly young growing organs.  Its purpose is only partly understood despite being a rich research area beginning with Darwin and his cohorts.  In roots circumnutation functions as a boring motion to help the root penetrate the soil.  In the shoots of twining plants circumnutation functions to find and grasp support.  However, in non-twinning plants, the function of circumnutation is unknown.  Gravitropism, movement in response to gravity, is a better-studied process, but mostly in the roots of a few plants with little known about its function in shoots, particularly at the molecular level.  In general, motion in most plant species is undocumented leaving a large void in understanding a critical plant process for scientists and students alike.  To make characterization and measurement of plant movement more routine for research and education, we developed the App, Plant Tracer (http://planttracer.com) to quantify plant movement from time-lapse movies made using cell phones or other cameras.  Plant Tracer determines the speed and amplitude of circumnutating Arabidopsis flowering stems (inflorescences) as well as the distance displaced, and angle of bending for Arabidopsis flowering stems undergoing gravitropic movement. Continued and expanded use of Plant Tracer will improve our knowledge of movement in the plant world.