Figure 1

Principal component scores during a rice plant developmental period bridging first tillering. The scores (categorized by value using a grey-scale as indicated in the legend) of Principal Components 1 to 5 (Panels 1 to 5, respectively) are plotted against the progression in sampling of days post-emergence (horizontal axis) and the height of the sampled tissue section (as height [mm] of mid-section – the vertical axis of each panel). Rice plants have a basal meristem, so an increase in mid-section height is also a progression in development. The principal components are of a standardized, centered metabolite space from an analysis of a comprehensive metabolomics dataset. Principal Components 1, 3 and 5 show a pattern of change relative to both developmental variables (axes), while Principal Component 4 and Principal Component 2 (if the influence of the 1-mm mid-section height samples are ignored) vary mainly with days post-emergence and are probably influenced by environment more than development. Each value is the mean of three replicates, each of which pooled sections representing 50 different plants.