Hybrid-Cut: An Improved Sectioning Method for Recalcitrant Plant Tissue Samples

Maintaining plant section integrity is essential for studying detailed anatomical structures at the cellular, tissue, or even organ level. However, some plant cells have rigid cell walls, tough fibers and crystals(calcium oxalate, silica, etc.), and high water content that often disrupt tissue integrity during plant tissue sectioning. This study establishes a simple Hybrid-Cut tissue sectioning method. This protocol modifies a paraffin-based sectioning technique and improves the integrity of tissue sections from different plants. Plant tissues were embedded in paraffin before sectioning in a cryostat at -16 °C. Sectioning under low temperature hardened the paraffin blocks, reduced tearing and scratching, and improved tissue integrity significantly. This protocol was successfully applied to calcium oxalate-rich Phalaenopsis orchid tissues as well as recalcitrant tissues such as reproductive organs and leaves of rice, maize, and wheat. In addition, the high quality of tissue sections from Hybrid-Cut could be used in combination with in situ hybridization (ISH) to provide spatial expression patterns of genes of interest. In conclusion, this protocol is particularly useful for recalcitrant plant tissue containing high crystal or silica content. Good quality tissue sections enable morphological and other biological studies.