Research by a Missouri not-for-profit research institute, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), has produced a three-dimensional imaging method for plants, according to a news release and paper.
The work by researchers at the Danforth Plant Science Center in Olivette, MO uses X-ray microscope technology (XRM) to image plant cells, whole tissues "and even organs at unprecedented depths with cellular resolution," the center's news release said. The resulting paper, "X-ray microscopy enables multiscale high-resolution 3D imaging of plant cells, tissues, and organs" was published in the scientific journal Plant Physiology, and describes how researchers worldwide now may "study above and below-ground traits at revolutionary clarity," the news release said.
"This paper focuses on the multiscale because plants are multiscale," Danforth Center Associate and Principal Investigator Chris Topp, corresponding author of the paper, said in the Dec. 2021 news release. "An ear of corn starts off as a microscopic group of cells called a meristem. Meristem cells will eventually form all the visible parts of the corn plant through division and growth."
The researchers' improvements on 3D XRM allows for a closer look at plants' developmental microstructure, including meristem cells, maturity traits, and leaf and flower examples.
"In other words, 3D XRM provides cellular-level resolution of entire plant organs and tissues," the news release said.
Previous and still widely-used 3D imaging processes have been limited by time-consuming sample preparation and imaging depth that often reaches only a few layers of plant cellular tissue. Measuring plant observable characteristics or phenotypes is central to understanding its breeding process and traits such as the number of kernels produced by maize, wheat seed size or even fruit color, such as in grapes. Such features often are visible to the unaided human eye but are drivers behind microscopic molecular and cellular plant processes.
Topps worked with Keith Duncan, a research scientist in his lab, to produce the new 3D imaging method. Their work is supported by Valent BioSciences LLC and Sumitomo Chemical Corporation.
The Danforth Center, founded in 1998, works to improve the human condition through plant science with an eye toward research, education, and outreach for greater food security, the environment and position of the St. Louis region to be a world center for plant science. In addition to DOE, the center work receives competitive grants funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other sources.
