Analysing Plant Cells With 3D Images

A new image processing programme makes it possible to view and analyse plant cells in detail in 3D. Bioscientists and computer scientists at Heidelberg University helped to develop the open-source software called PlantSeg. It is based on methods of machine learning and can be used to study the process of morphogenesis - how the shape of plants develops - at the cellular level. The researchers hope to gain a better understanding of processes in developmental biology like speciation. The research results appeared in the journal eLife Sciences. "To study how plant organs like leaves, flowers and roots develop, individual cells have to be imaged and their development depicted over time," explains Alexis Maizel from the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University. Until now, such analyses were mainly two-dimensional, based on cross-sections, for example.