Novel technique for measuring the 3D geometric size of fruit cells
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25165/ijabe.v18i3.9581Keywords:
cell observation instrument, 3D geometric information, fruit single cell, dual-viewpoint, orthogonal observationAbstract
The size and shape of individual fruit cells are key indicators of a fruit’s physiological condition and overall quality. However, due to the three-dimensional (3D) nature of fruit cells, existing biomicroscopes are not capable of efficiently or accurately characterizing their 3D geometry. In this work, a novel microscope system integrated with computer software was developed to enable precise 3D geometrical characterization of fruit cells. To validate the system’s effectiveness, tomatoes and strawberries at two different stages of ripeness were used as test samples. First, the front and bottom views of the fruit cells were captured. Subsequently, the developed software was used to measure the 3D geometric size of each individual cell. Key performance parameters of the developed 3D microscope, including overall magnification, aperture diameter, resolution, and field of view area, were carefully measured and evaluated. The experiment revealed differences in the length D1, thickness D2, width D3, and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of single cells of tomatoes and strawberries; these differences were 18.18%, 4.6%, 9.8%, and 29.7%, 10.7%, 12.6%, respectively. Furthermore, 3D geometrical data, including surface area S, volume V, and sphericity φ of single cells, were successfully obtained. This demonstrated that the developed microscope system can efficiently and accurately capture and characterize the true 3D geometry of cells, emphasizing its scientific value. Keywords: cell observation instrument, 3D geometric information, fruit single cell, dual-viewpoint, orthogonal observation DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20251803.9581 Citation: Qiang H L, Li B L, Li Z G, Tchuenbou-Magaia F, Wei B Y, Liu Y D. Novel technique for measuring the 3D geometric size of fruit cells. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2025; 18(3): 257–264.References
Li Z G, Thomas C. Quantitative evaluation of mechanical damage to fresh fruits. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2014; 35（2）: 138-150.
Jullien A, Munier-Jolain N G, Malézieux E, Chillet M, Ney B. Effect of pulp cell number and assimilate availability on dry matter accumulation rate in a banana fruit. Annals of Botany, 2001; 88（2）: 321-330.
Olmstead J W, Iezzoni A F, Whiting M D. Genotypic differences in sweet cherry fruit size are primarily a function of cell number. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 2007; 132（5）: 697-703.
McAtee P A, Hallett L C, Johnston J W, Schaffer R J. A rapid method of fruit cell isolation for cell size and shape measurements. Plant Methods, 2009; 5（1）: 5.
Bertin N, Gautier H, Roche C. Number of cells in tomato fruit depending on fruit position and source-sink balance during plant development. Plant Growth Regulation, 2002; 36（2）: 105-112.
Mann H, Bedford D, Luby J, Vickers Z, Tong C. Relationship of instrumental and sensory texture measurements of fresh and stored apples to cell number and size. HortScience, 2005; 40（6）: 1815-1820.
Liu Z G, Li Z G, Yue T L, Diels E, Yang Y G. Differences in the cell morphology and microfracture behaviour of tomato fruit （Solanum lycopersicum L.） tissues during ripening. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 2020; 164: 111182.
Zhang M S, Yang J, Wang Y H, Li Z G, Tchuenbou-Magaia F. A new method for reconstructing the 3D shape of single cells in fruit. Food Research International, 2022; 162: 112017.
Li Z G, Zhang Z B, Thomas C. Viscoelastic-plastic behavior of single tomato mesocarp cells in high speed compression-holding tests. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 2016; 34: 44-50.
Wang Y, Zhang X S, Xu J, Sun X Y, Zhao X L, Li H S, et al. The development of microscopic imaging technology and its application in micro- and nanotechnology. Frontiers in Chiemistry, 2022; 10: 931169.
Allan-Wojtas P, Sanford K A, McRae K B, Wojtas P A, Carbyn S. An integrated microstructural and sensory approach to describe apple texture. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 2003; 128（3）: 381-390.
Nieto A B, Salvatori D M, Castro M A, Alzamora S M. Structural changes in apple tissue during glucose and sucrose osmotic dehydration: shrinkage, porosity, density and microscopic features. Journal of Food Engineering, 2004; 61（2）: 269-278.
Wang C X, Pritchard J, Thomas C R. Investigation of the mechanics of single tomato fruit cells. Journal of Texture Studies, 2006; 37（5）: 597-606.
Mebatsion H K, Verboven P, Jancsok P T, Ho Q T, Verlinden B E, Nicolaï B M. Modeling 3D fruit tissue microstructure using a novel ellipsoid tessellation algorithm. CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, 2008; 29（3）: 137-150.
Zhou L L, Cai M J, Tong T, Wang H D. Progress in the correlative atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy. Sensors, 2017; 17（4）: 938.
Anjam K. A method of dynamic chromatic aberration correction in low-voltage scanning electron microscopes. Ultramicroscopy, 2005; 103（4）: 255-260.
Fu M L, Fan T C, Lu C X, Lai J S, Zhang W Q, Antonov E, et al. Light filters influence on the chromaticity for Fresnel microprisms. Optik, 2020; 201: 163484.
Liu Z X. Third-rank chromatic aberrations of electron lenses. Ultramicroscopy, 2018; 185: 27-31.
Arash D, Vahid A. Dielectric microspheres enhance microscopy resolution mainly due to increasing the effective numerical aperture. Light-Science Applicationgs, 2023; 12: 22.
Zhang C L. Methods and instruments for the measurement of numerical aperture for microscope objective lens: A mini review. Review of Science Instruments, 2022; 93（11）: 113705.
Ji P, Lee S S, Im Y E, Choi Y. Determination of geometry-induced positional distortion of ultrafast laser-inscribed circuits in a cylindrical optical fiber. Optics Letters, 2019; 44（3）: 610-613.
Gray J D, Kolesik P, Høj P B, Coombe B G. Confocal measurement of the three‐dimensional size and shape of plant parenchyma cells in a developing fruit tissue. Plant Journal, 1999; 19（2）: 229-236.
Li Z G, Li P P, Yang H L, Liu J Z, Xu Y F. Mechanical properties of tomato exocarp, mesocarp and locular gel tissues. Journal of Food Engineering, 2012; 111（1）: 82-91.
An X, Liu H J, Fadiji T, Li Z G, Dimitrovski D. Prediction of the temperature sensitivity of strawberry drop damage using dynamic finite element method. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 2022; 190: 111939.
An X, Li Z G, Zude-Sasse M, Tchuenbou-Magaia F, Yang Y G. Characterization of textural failure mechanics of strawberry fruit. Journal of Food Engineering, 2020; 282: 110016.
Han X W, An X, Fadiji T, Li Z G, Khojastehpour M. Textural thermo-mechanical properties of sweet cherry for post-harvest damage analysis. Journal of Texture Studies, 2022; 53（4）: 453-464.
Singh S S, Abdullah S, Pradhan R C, Mishra S. Physical, chemical, textural, and thermal properties of cashew apple fruit. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 2019; 42（5）: e1394.
An X, Li Z G, Wegner G, Zude-Sasse M. Effect of cell size distribution on mechanical properties of strawberry fruit tissue. Food Research International, 2023; 169: 112787.
Zhao F F, Zhang J J, Weng L, Li M, Wang Q H, Xiao H. Fruit size control by a zinc finger protein regulating pericarp cell size in tomato. Molecular Horticulture, 2021; 1: 6.
Mauxion J P, Chevalier C, Gonzalez N. Complex cellular and molecular events determining fruit size. Trends in Plant Science, 2021; 26（10）: 1023-1038.
Zhao X, Muhammad N, Zhao Z X, Yin K L, Liu Z G, Wang L X, et al. Molecular regulation of fruit size in horticultural plants: A review. Scientia Horticulturae, 2021; 288: 110353.
Legland D, Guillon F, Kiêu K, Bouchet B, Devaux M F. Stereological estimation of cell wall density of DR12 tomato mutant using three-dimensional confocal imaging. Annals of Botany, 2010; 105（2）: 265-276.
Legland D, Devaux M F, Bouchet B, Guillon F, Lahaye M. Cartography of cell morphology in tomato pericarp at the fruit scale. Journal of Microscopy, 2012; 247（1）: 78-93.
Zdunek A, Kurenda A. Determination of the elastic properties of tomato fruit cells with an atomic force microscope. Sensors, 2013; 13（9）: 12175-12191.
Azzi L, Deluche C, Gévaudant F, Frangne N, Delmas F, Hernould M, et al. Fruit growth-related genes in tomato. Journal of Experimental Botany, 2015; 66（4）: 1075-1086.
Vallarino J G, de Abreu e Lima F, Soria C, Tong H, Pott D M, Willmitzer L, et al. Genetic diversity of strawberry germplasm using metabolomic biomarkers. Science Reports, 2018; 8: 14386.
Cárdenas-Pérez S, Chanona-Pérez J J, Méndez-Méndez J V, Calderón-Domínguez G, López-Santiago R, Arzate-Vázquez I. Nanoindentation study on apple tissue and isolated cells by atomic force microscopy, image and fractal analysis. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 2016; 34: 234-242.
Gan L J, Song M Y, Wang X C, Yang N, Li H, Liu X X, et al. Cytokinins is involved in regulation of tomato pericarp thickness and fruit size. Hortic Research, 2022; 9: uhab041.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
IJABE is an international peer reviewed open access journal, adopting Creative Commons Copyright Notices as follows.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
