Background The analysis of circadian leaf movement rhythms is a simple yet
effective method to study effects of treatments or gene mutations on the
circadian clock of plants. Currently, leaf movements are analysed using time
lapse photography and subsequent bioinformatics analyses of leaf movements.
Programs that are used for this purpose either are able to perform one
function (i.e. leaf tip detection or rhythm analysis) or their function is
limited to specific computational environments. We developed a leaf movement
analysis tool—PALMA—that works in command line and combines image extraction
with rhythm analysis using Fast Fourier transformation and non-linear least
squares fitting. Results We validated PALMA in both simulated time series and
in experiments using the known short period mutant sensitivity to red light
reduced 1 (srr1-1). We compared PALMA with two established leaf movement
analysis tools and found it to perform equally well. Finally, we tested the
effect of reduced iron conditions on the leaf movement rhythms of wild type
plants. Here, we found that PALMA successfully detected period lengthening
under reduced iron conditions. Conclusions PALMA correctly estimated the
period of both simulated and real-life leaf movement experiments. As a
platform-independent console-program that unites both functions needed for the
analysis of circadian leaf movements it is a valid alternative to existing
leaf movement analysis tools
