Applying quantitative spatial phenotypes analysis to the investigation of peltate glandular trichomes development pattern in Perilla frutescens

Background Glandular trichomes, often referred to as “phytochemical factories”, plays a crucial role in plant growth and metabolism.

As the site for secretion and storage, the development of glandular trichomes is related to the dynamic biosynthesis of specialised metabolites.

The study aims to explore the relationship between spatial phenotype and dynamic metabolism of glandular trichomes, and establish a novel approach for the exploration and study of the regulatory mechanism governing the development of glandular trichomes.

Results In this study, we proposed a technical route based on the relative deviation value to distinguish the peltate glandular trichomes (PGTs) from the background tissues and extract their spatial phenotype.

By defining glandular trichome developmental stages based on the leaf vein growth axis, we found that young PGTs were densely distributed near the proximal end of growth axis of the leaf veins, where perillaketone, a primary metabolite of PGTs, is predominantly accumulated.

Conversely, mature PGTs are typically found near the distal end of the mid-vein growth axis and the lateral end of the secondary vein growth axis, where the accumulation rate of isoegomaketone and egomaketone exceeds that of perillaketone in PGTs.

We further identified spatial phenotypic parameters, L_sum and d, as independent variables to construct a linear regression model that illustrates the relationship between the spatial phenotypes and metabolite content of PGTs, including perillaketone (R^2 = 0.698), egomaketone (R^2 = 0.593), isoegomaketone (R^2 = 0.662) and the sum of the amount (R^2 = 0.773).

Conclusions This model proved that the development of PGTs was correlated with the growth of the entire leaf, and the development stage of PGTs can be identifined by spatial phenotypes based on the leaf veins.

In conclusion, the findings of this study enhance our understanding of correlation between spatial phenotype and development of glandular trichomes and offer a new approach to explore and study the regulatory mechanism of glandular trichome development.