Molecular imaging for plant physiology; Imaging of carbon translocation to sink organs

植物分子イメージング; ポジトロンイメージング技術による光合成産物のシンク器官転流の可視化

河地 有木; 鈴井 伸郎; 石井 里美; 伊藤 小百合; 石岡 典子; 菊地 郁*; 塚本 崇志*; 草川 知行*; 藤巻 秀

Kawachi, Naoki; Suzui, Nobuo; Ishii, Satomi; Ito, Sayuri; Ishioka, Noriko; Kikuchi, Kaori*; Tsukamoto, Takashi*; Kusakawa, Tomoyuki*; Fujimaki, Shu

In recent years, radionuclide-based imaging technologies have been providing researchers with exciting new opportunities to study biology. The positron-emitting tracer imaging system (PETIS), which has a planar PET scanner, is one of the most powerful techniques used for conducting plant researches in order to study the distribution and translocation of water, sugar, nutrients, and environmental pollutants. In the sink-source relationship in the plant body, source abilities of a leaf imaged using a compartmental model analysis with PETIS data. In this case, to clarify the mechanism of the growth and development of the agricultural produces, we performed imaging experiments of sugar translocation to sink organ of fruits. A near leaf of the target fruits (Eggplant and Tomato) inhaled carbon-11 labeled carbon dioxide (100 MBq), and the translocation of carbon-11 labeled photoassimilate into fruits was imaged by PETIS for two hours. As a result, serial images of graduate increasing C activity and its ununiformly distribution in the fruit were acquired successfully. And also velocities of photoassimilate translocation and changes in the contributing rate with time of translocation from the leaf were estimated by analysis of PETIS data.