Plant-PET Scans: In Vivo Mapping of Xylem and Phloem Functioning

Abstract

Medical imaging techniques are rapidly expanding in the field of plant sciences. Positron emission tomography (PET) is advancing as a powerful functional imaging technique to decipher in vivo the function of xylem water flow (with (15)O or (18)F), phloem sugar flow (with (11)C or (18)F), and the importance of their strong coupling. However, much remains to be learned about how water flow and sugar distribution are coordinated in intact plants, both under present and future climate regimes. We propose to use PET analysis of plants (plant-PET) to visualize and generate these missing data about integrated xylem and phloem transport. These insights are crucial to understanding how a given environment will affect plant physiological processes and growth.

Keywords: Positron emission tomography (PET); medical imaging; plant physiology; water and sugar flow; xylem and phloem transport; xylem–phloem interaction.