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. 2017 Mar 28;114(13):3393-3396.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1701328114. Epub 2017 Mar 13.

In vivo diagnostics of early abiotic plant stress response via Raman spectroscopy

Narangerel Altangerel  1 , Gombojav O Ariunbold  2 , Connor Gorman  3   4 , Masfer H Alkahtani  1 , Eli J Borrego  4 , Dwight Bohlmeyer  1 , Philip Hemmer  1 , Michael V Kolomiets  4 , Joshua S Yuan  3   4 , Marlan O Scully  5   6
Affiliations

In vivo diagnostics of early abiotic plant stress response via Raman spectroscopy

Narangerel Altangerel et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Development of a phenotyping platform capable of noninvasive biochemical sensing could offer researchers, breeders, and producers a tool for precise response detection. In particular, the ability to measure plant stress in vivo responses is becoming increasingly important. In this work, a Raman spectroscopic technique is developed for high-throughput stress phenotyping of plants. We show the early (within 48 h) in vivo detection of plant stress responses. Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) plants were subjected to four common abiotic stress conditions individually: high soil salinity, drought, chilling exposure, and light saturation. Plants were examined poststress induction in vivo, and changes in the concentration levels of the reactive oxygen-scavenging pigments were observed by Raman microscopic and remote spectroscopic systems. The molecular concentration changes were further validated by commonly accepted chemical extraction (destructive) methods. Raman spectroscopy also allows simultaneous interrogation of various pigments in plants. For example, we found a unique negative correlation in concentration levels of anthocyanins and carotenoids, which clearly indicates that plant stress response is fine-tuned to protect against stress-induced damages. This precision spectroscopic technique holds promise for the future development of high-throughput screening for plant phenotyping and the quantification of biologically or commercially relevant molecules, such as antioxidants and pigments.

Keywords: Raman spectroscopy; anthocyanins; carotenoids; plant abiotic stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
A simultaneous and in vivo detection of anthocyanins and carotenoids, which are reactive oxygen-scavenging pigments, by the Raman technique.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The Raman system setups. (A) Confocal Raman microscopic system. (B) The remote Raman spectroscopic system.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
The Raman spectra of unstressed plants (green curves) and stressed plants at 48 h after stress (red curves) of (A) saline, (B) light, (C) drought, and (D) cold. (Insets) Photos of coleus leaves for (Left) unstressed and (Right) stressed plants.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
(A) The bar distributions for the fit coefficients for carotenoids (brown) and the chemically extracted values for carotenoids (milligrams per gram dry weight; gray) as functions of durations of the abiotic stresses. (B) The bar distributions for the fit coefficients for anthocyanins (violet) and the chemically extracted values for anthocyanins (micrograms per microliter dry weight; black) as functions of durations of the abiotic stresses.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
The bar distributions for carotenoid-relative changes measured by the remote system as functions of durations of the abiotic stresses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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