The microstructure investigation of plant architecture with X-ray microscopy

ABSTRACT Background In recent years, the plant morphology has been well studied by multiple approaches at cellular and subcellular levels. Two-dimensional (2D) microscopy techniques offer imaging of plant structures on a wide range of magnifications for researchers. However, subcellular imaging is still challenging in plant tissues like roots and seeds. Results Here we use a three-dimensional (3D) imaging technology based on the ZEISS X-ray microscope (XRM) Versa and analyze several plant tissues from different plant species. The XRM provides new insights into plant structures using non-destructive imaging at high-resolution and high contrast. We also developed a workflow aiming to acquire accurate and high-quality images in the context of the whole specimen. Multiple plant samples including rice, tobacco, Arabidopsis and maize were used to display the differences of phenotypes, which indicates that the XRM is a powerful tool to investigate plant microstructure. Conclusions Our work provides a novel observation method to evaluate and quantify tissue specific differences for a range of plant species. This new tool is suitable for non-destructive seed observation and screening.