Real-time whole-plant imaging of C translocation using positron-emitting tracer imaging system

Kawachi, Naoki; Suzui, Nobuo; Ishii, Satomi; Ito, Sayuri; Ishioka, Noriko; Yamazaki, Haruaki; Iwasaki, Aya*; Ogawa, Kenichi*; Fujimaki, Shu

Elucidation of carbon kinetics in a plant is important from viewpoint of environmental reduction in the amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO) and from an agricultural viewpoint in terms of the growth and development of the plant body. In articular photosynthetic CO fixation and photoassimilate translocation are important topics for understanding the mechanisms underlying carbon kinetics. In this study, we have developed a method to investigate the carbon kinetics by using one of the most powerful radionuclide-based imaging techniques for plant study, that is, the positron emitting tracer imaging system (PETIS). Carbon-11-labeled carbon dioxide (CO) and PETIS enable video imaging of tracer dynamics of carbon fixation, photosynthesis, and translocation. Because of a large field of view (FOV) provided by the PETIS and the sufficiently small size of soybeans ( cultive Jack) that fit in the FOV, dynamic quantitative PETIS data of gradual changing in C activity and C distribution throughout the entire intact plant body after pulse-chase CO treatment is acquired. This indicates the successful imaging of CO photoassimilate translocation from the time of infusion into leafs to that of distribution of the whole plant body; further, carbon kinetics is analyzable to understand plant physiology and nutrition.