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Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere

Understanding of soil processes is essential for addressing the global issues of food security, disease transmission and climate change. However, techniques for observing soil biology are lacking. We present a heterogeneous, porous, transparent substrate for in situ 3D imaging of living plants and r...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Downie, Helen, Holden, Nicola, Otten, Wilfred, Spiers, Andrew J., Valentine, Tracy A., Dupuy, Lionel X.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3439476/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22984484
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044276
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author Downie, Helen
Holden, Nicola
Otten, Wilfred
Spiers, Andrew J.
Valentine, Tracy A.
Dupuy, Lionel X.
author_facet Downie, Helen
Holden, Nicola
Otten, Wilfred
Spiers, Andrew J.
Valentine, Tracy A.
Dupuy, Lionel X.
author_sort Downie, Helen
collection PubMed
description Understanding of soil processes is essential for addressing the global issues of food security, disease transmission and climate change. However, techniques for observing soil biology are lacking. We present a heterogeneous, porous, transparent substrate for in situ 3D imaging of living plants and root-associated microorganisms using particles of the transparent polymer, Nafion, and a solution with matching optical properties. Minerals and fluorescent dyes were adsorbed onto the Nafion particles for nutrient supply and imaging of pore size and geometry. Plant growth in transparent soil was similar to that in soil. We imaged colonization of lettuce roots by the human bacterial pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 showing micro-colony development. Micro-colonies may contribute to bacterial survival in soil. Transparent soil has applications in root biology, crop genetics and soil microbiology.
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spelling pubmed-34394762012-09-14 Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere Downie, Helen Holden, Nicola Otten, Wilfred Spiers, Andrew J. Valentine, Tracy A. Dupuy, Lionel X. PLoS One Research Article Understanding of soil processes is essential for addressing the global issues of food security, disease transmission and climate change. However, techniques for observing soil biology are lacking. We present a heterogeneous, porous, transparent substrate for in situ 3D imaging of living plants and root-associated microorganisms using particles of the transparent polymer, Nafion, and a solution with matching optical properties. Minerals and fluorescent dyes were adsorbed onto the Nafion particles for nutrient supply and imaging of pore size and geometry. Plant growth in transparent soil was similar to that in soil. We imaged colonization of lettuce roots by the human bacterial pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 showing micro-colony development. Micro-colonies may contribute to bacterial survival in soil. Transparent soil has applications in root biology, crop genetics and soil microbiology. Public Library of Science 2012-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3439476/ /pubmed/22984484 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044276 Text en © 2012 Downie et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Downie, Helen
Holden, Nicola
Otten, Wilfred
Spiers, Andrew J.
Valentine, Tracy A.
Dupuy, Lionel X.
Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title_full Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title_fullStr Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title_full_unstemmed Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title_short Transparent Soil for Imaging the Rhizosphere
title_sort transparent soil for imaging the rhizosphere
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3439476/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22984484
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044276
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