Noninvasive imaging of hollow structures and gas movement revealed the gas partial-pressure-gradient-driven long-distance gas movement in the aerenchyma along the leaf blade to submerged organs in rice

Yin, Y.-G.*; Mori, Yoshinao*; Suzui, Nobuo*; Kurita, Keisuke  ; Yamaguchi, Mitsutaka*; Miyoshi, Yuta*; Nagao, Yuto*; Ashikari, Motoyuki*; Nagai, Keisuke*; Kawachi, Naoki*

Rice () plants have porous or hollow organs consisting of aerenchyma, which is presumed to function as a low-resistance diffusion pathway for air to travel from the foliage above the water to submerged organs. However, gas movement in rice plants has yet to be visualized in real time. In this study involving partially submerged rice plants, the leaves emerging from the water were fed nitrogen-13-labeled nitrogen ([N]N) tracer gas, and the gas movement downward along the leaf blade, leaf sheath, and internode over time was monitored.