This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2021
Carbon dynamics in nodulated pea root systems: 3D imaging andquantification with short lived isotopes
Carbon dynamics in nodulated pea root systems: 3D imaging andquantification with short lived isotopes
Legumes associate with root colonizing rhizobia that provide atmospheric nitrogen to its plant host in exchange for recently fixed carbon. While much of the nodulation process and its regulation is now understood, there is a lack in understanding how plants modulate carbon allocation to a nodulated...
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Personal Name(s): | Metzner, Ralf (Corresponding author) |
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Chlubek, Antonia / Bühler, Jonas / Pflugfelder, Daniel / Schurr, Ulrich / Huber, Gregor / Koller, Robert / Jahnke, Siegfried | |
Contributing Institute: |
Pflanzenwissenschaften; IBG-2 |
Imprint: |
2021
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Conference: | Plant Biology Europe 2021, Turin (Italy), 2021-06-28 - 2021-07-01 |
Document Type: |
Poster |
Research Program: |
Biological and environmental resources for sustainable use |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Legumes associate with root colonizing rhizobia that provide atmospheric nitrogen to its plant host in exchange for recently fixed carbon. While much of the nodulation process and its regulation is now understood, there is a lack in understanding how plants modulate carbon allocation to a nodulated root system as a dynamic response to abiotic stimuli. One reason is that most approaches are based on destructive sampling, making investigation of localized carbon allocation dynamics in the root system difficult. We employed non-invasive Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to follow the allocation of leaf-supplied 11C tracer towards individual nodules in a three-dimensional (3D) root system of pea (Pisum sativum). Nitrate was applied to the root system to rapidly shut down biological nitrogen fixation and follow the effect on carbon allocation dynamics. This treatment lead to a reduction of 11C tracer allocation to nodules by 40% - 47% in 5 treated plants within 42h while the change in control plants was less than 11%. Our study demonstrates the strength of using 11C tracers in a PET approach for non-invasive quantification of dynamic carbon allocation in growing plants over several days. A major advantage of the approach is the possibility to investigate carbon dynamics in small regions of interest in a 3D system such as nodules in comparison to whole plant development. |