By: Kay Schneitz

Epic and truly pioneering work spearheaded by Athul Vijayan and Rachele Tofanelli. They used a combination of deep imaging and machine learning-based image analysis to generate a three-dimensional atlas of ovule development in Arabidopsis thaliana. The 3D digital ovules exhibit full cellular resolution enabling the quantitative spatio-temporal analysis of cellular and gene expression patterns with cell and tissue resolution. A massive effort involving extensive collaboration between biologists and computer scientists, including Sören Strauss and Richard Smith from the Department of Comparative Development and Genetics at the MPI of Plant Breeding Research in Cologne (headed by M. Tsiantis, Richard now runs his own group at the JIC in Norwich), Lorenzo Cerrone from the Hamprecht lab at the University of Heidelberg, and Adrian Wolny from the Kreshuk lab at EMBL. This collaboration resulted in what we believe is a tentpole achievement of the DFG-sponsored Research Unit FOR 2581 "Plant Morphodynamics". It will be the basis of our future work on the control of morphogenesis. Be assured, there is more exiting science to come...

Vijayan, Tofanelli et al 2021 "A digital 3D reference atlas reveals cellular growth patterns shaping the Arabidopsis ovule". eLife 10:63262