ArticlePlant phenomics (Washington, D.C.)2026
The Rapid Anatomics Tool (RAT): A low-cost root anatomical phenotyping platform reveals changes in root anatomy along the root axis.
Article in Plant phenomics (Washington, D.C.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed.
- An introduction to the fundamentals of root systems research in cultivated plants.Annals of botany · 2026Review
- Deep aerenchyma: a transformer-based pipeline for scalable phenotyping of rice root aerenchyma lacunae across environments.Plant methods · 2026Article
- Root anatomical gradients and cultivar differences underlie variation in root hydraulic properties in German winter wheat.Journal of experimental botany · 2026Article
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10 authors.
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Abstract
Root anatomical phenotyping has become a demonstrably essential part of investigating root physiology and in acquiring a holistic understanding of plant development. However, accessible high throughput methods for root anatomical analysis are still lacking. Here, we present the Rapid Anatomics Tool (RAT), a novel, low-cost platform for high throughput root anatomical imaging with a shallow learning curve for obtaining high quality images suitable for comparative analysis across a number of plant species. Its efficiency comes from combining blockface-like imaging and stain-free imaging using near-ultraviolet (nUV) autofluorescence utilising a combination of low-cost commercial equipment, readily available mechanical components, and custom designed and 3D printed tools. Using this platform, we investigated the anatomy of mature tissue along the axis of wheat crown roots, revealing a tendency of reduction in vascular complexity (expressed through a reduction in metaxylem number, area, and mean area per metaxylem file) from the basal to the distal region of the root. This study highlights the importance of thorough sampling strategies for investigating root anatomy in relation to organ function and introduces an accessible, relatively high-throughput platform to support such research.
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