Shoot Branching Phenotyping in Arabidopsis and Tomato

Shoot branching is an important trait that depends on the activity of axillary meristems and buds and their outgrowth into branches. It is remarkably plastic, being influenced by a number of external cues, such as light, temperature, soil nutrients, and mechanical manipulation. These are transduced into an internal hormone signaling network where auxin, cytokinins, and strigolactones play leading regulatory roles. Recently, sugars have also emerged as important signals promoting bud activation. These signals are in part integrated by the bud-specific growth repressor BRANCHED1 (BRC1).To understand how shoot branching is affected by particular growth conditions or in specific plant lines, it is necessary to count the number of branches and/or quantify other branch-related parameters. Here we describe how to perform such quantifications in Arabidopsis and in tomato.