Leverage OVulE primordia 3D Multi-signal intEgration to study the function of boundary domains – LOVE_ME

During plant development, boundary domains (BD) delimit organ primordia and orchestrate their growth and differentiation. Regulators operating in BD are reused throughout plant development for instance to initiate ovule primordia. To gain a comprehensive view of the role of BD in early stages of ovule development, we propose here to use an innovative statistical method that allow the explicit reconstruction of both reporter expression pattern dynamics and shapes, based on 3D static imaging, to obtain spatio-temporal multi-modal quantitative data over a long time period. Combined with live imaging and ad hoc image registration strategies, our approach will enable investigating unprecedented questions for which statistical data are needed, for example to determine whether the growth of ovule primordium relies on stereotyped or variable cellular and molecular processes. Furthermore, to functionally address how BD cell anisotropic growth and mechanical properties may ovule primordia shape and germ cell fate, we will image and compare, using this reference framework, genetic variants altering either i) the function of BD identity gene network, ii) BD cells’ geometry, topology or mechanical properties. The LOVE_ME project aims at integrating organ, cellular and molecular data, to provide dynamic, multi-scale analysis of the genetic regulation of form and patterning. The innovative computational tools developed will be a breakthrough for modeling and simulation approaches to reveal possible emerging properties of plant tissues, and could help proposing innovative plant breeding strategies to improve crop performances.