Outline of general strategies of phenotyping in C. elegans using RNAi and sorters. The sorting techniques COPAS and laFACS can be used to sort live worms. FACS is used to rapidly sort and collect large quantities of live larvae from a mixed population. After laFACs, pure GFP or mutant worms can be used for either genetic or chemical screens, microarray or biochemical assays.

Simplified illustration of the DevStaR system. The input images are from 96-well plates containing a population of mixed stages of adult, larva and embryo worms. Each pixel within the wells is first grouped together (contrast measure). Pixels are then grouped into connected components based on a threshold value (pairwise symmetry score). Third, for the object categorization, a support vector machine (SVM) learning method assigned a score to each category. Finally, as a result of the segmentation and labeling, DevStaR distinguishes adult (blue), larva (red) and embryo (green) worms.

The general strategies of phenotyping in plants. Illustration of the root-imaging platform. (1) Rice plants are grown in cylinders in gel-based media (sample preparation). (2) The cylinders are placed in a box containing water on the imaging turntable with backlighting. Computers control cameras attached to a four-post support system, which permits adjustments vertically and horizontally. Images are acquired through 360° (image-acquisition platform and data handling). (3) Cropped images from multiple angles are used for analysis (data processing). (4) Feature maps of root architecture that record values for a variety of root features, such as perimeter, depth, bushiness and volume, of each image (image/data analysis).