Linking Genes to Shape in Plants Using Morphometrics.

A transition from qualitative to quantitative descriptors of morphology has been facilitated through the growing field of morphometrics, representing the conversion of shapes and patterns into numbers. The analysis of plant form at the macromorphological scale using morphometric approaches quantifies what is commonly referred to as a phenotype, while the individual plants with contrasting genotypes provide a path to establishing links between genes and shape The path from a gene to a morphological phenotype is, however, not direct, with instructive information progressing both through multiple scales of biological complexity and through nonintuitive feedback, including mechanical signals. In this review, we explore morphometric approaches used to perform whole-plant phenotyping and quantitative approaches in capture processes in the mesoscales, which bridge the gaps between gene and shape in plants. Quantitative frameworks involving both the computational simulation and the discretization of data into networks provide a putative path to predicting emergent shape from underlying genetic programs. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics, Volume 54 is November 23, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.