Plant Physiol. Drug Metab Dispos
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Plant Physiology Preview
Published on April 20, 2007; 10.1104/pp.106.089250

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Plant Physiology Preview (PDF))
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
144/2/1157    most recent
pp.106.089250v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Scheenen, T.W.J.
Right arrow Articles by Van As, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Scheenen, T.W.J.
Right arrow Articles by Van As, H.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Scheenen, T.W.J.
Right arrow Articles by Van As, H.

Received September 1, 2006
Accepted April 16, 2007

Intact Plant MRI to Study Dynamics in Long Distance Sap Flow and Flow Conducting Surface Area

T.W.J. Scheenen , F.J. Vergeldt , A.M. Heemskerk , and H. Van As *

Laboratory of Biophysics and Wageningen NMR Centre, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, Dreijenlaan 3, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands

* Corresponding author; email: Henk.Vanas{at}wur.nl.

Due to the fragile pressure gradients present in xylem and phloem, methods to study sap flow must be minimally invasive. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) meets this condition. A dedicated MRI method to study sap flow has been applied to quantify long distance xylem flow and hydraulics in an intact cucumber plant (Cucumis sativus L.). The accuracy of this MRI method to quantify sap flow and effective flow conducting area is demonstrated by measuring the flow characteristics of the water in a virtual slice through the stem and comparing the results with water uptake data and microscopy. The in-plane image resolution of 120 x 120 µm was high enough to distinguish large individual xylem vessels. Cooling the roots of the plant severely inhibited water uptake by the roots and increased the hydraulic resistance of the plant stem. This increase is (at least partially) due to the formation of embolisms in the xylem vessels. Refilling of the larger vessels seems to be a lengthy process. Refilling started in the night after root cooling and continued while neighboring vessels at a distance of not more than 0.4 mm transported an equal amount of water as before root cooling. Relative differences in volume flow in different vascular bundles suggest differences in xylem tension for different vascular bundles. The amount of data and detail that is presented for this single plant demonstrate new possibilities for using MRI in studying the dynamics of long distance transport in plants.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications PLANT PHYSIOLOGY THE PLANT CELL
Copyright © 2007 by the American Society of Plant Biologists