GROWSCREEN Chamber

The installation GROWSCREEN Chamber consists of two growth chambers with controlled environmental conditions designed for routine phenotypic evaluation of Arabidopsis and other rosette plants. In each chamber the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light intensity and quality, as well as CO2-concentration are controlled allowing large flexibility in establishing dedicated environmental conditions.

Additionally an automated handling device allows transfer of plants on trays from one growth chamber to the other allowing experiments which includes rapid switches from one to the other growth chamber, to growth conditions constituting experimental treatments.
The workflows are fully automated, in each chamber a robot is installed that delivers trays with potted plants to dedicated measurement stations with devices for the measurement of leaf growth, morphometric parameters, chlorophyll fluorescence and 2D-structure of the plants. The analysis of the recorded images and data handling is controlled by an automated image processing workflow which is connected to a database. The capacity depends on the size of the plants and ranges between 400 and 4000 plants and all plants can be measured multiple times a day.

GROWSCREEN Chamber enables a wide range of diverse experiments and gives the opportunity to discover the genetic control of shoot traits of model plants in relation to different environmental conditions, to characterize diverse mutants and their interaction with the environment or to identify genotypes with improved plant productivity. For example the GROWSCREEN Chamber has been used for the assessment of plant response to limited water conditions (Barboza-Barquero et al 2015) of photo-oxidative stress under high light conditions (Caliandro et al 2013) or the effect of low temperature on sugar metabolism (Nunes C et al 2012). The experiments can also be supported by additional physiological measurements such as gas exchange on selected individuals. Destructive sampling for biochemical analysis or biomass characterization (fresh, dry weight) can be performed during or at the end of the experiment.

Selected Publications

Barboza-Barquero, L. et al. (2015) Phenotype of Arabidopsis thaliana semi-dwarfs with deep roots and high growth rates under water-limiting conditions is independent of the GA5 loss-of-function alleles. Annals of Botany 116(3), 321-331.

Caliandro, R., Nagel, K. A., Kastenholz, B., Bassi, R., Zhirong, L., Krishna, K. N., Pogson, B., Schurr, U., Matsubara, S. (2013) Effects of altered α - and β -branch carotenoid biosynthesis on photoprotection and whole-plant acclimation of Arabidopsis to photo-oxidative stress. Plant, Cell & Environment 36(2), 438 - 453.

Nunes, C. et al. (2013) Regulation of growth by the trehalose pathway: relationship to temperature and sucrose. Plant Signaling and Behavior 8: e26626.