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Laser ablation tomography (LATscan) as a new tool for anatomical studies of woody plants

Article

Neto, ILC; Hall, BT; Lanba, AR; Blosenski, JD; Onyenedum, JG

NA

2023

NEW PHYTOLOGIST

239

429-444

circle Traditionally, botanists study plant anatomy by carefully sectioning samples, histological staining to highlight tissues of interests, then imaging slides under light microscopy. This approach generates significant details; however, this workflow is laborious, particularly in woody vines (lianas) with heterogeneous anatomies, and ultimately yields two-dimensional (2D) images. Laser ablation tomography (LATscan) is a high-throughput imaging system that yields hundreds of images per minute. This method has proven useful for studying the structure of delicate plant tissues; however, its utility in understanding the structure of woody tissues is underexplored. circle We report LATscan-derived anatomical data from several stems of lianas (c. 20 mm) of seven species and compare these results with those obtained through traditional anatomical techniques. circle LATscan successfully allows the description of tissue composition by differentiating cell type, size, and shape, but also permits the recognition of distinct cell wall composition (e.g. lignin, suberin, cellulose) based on differential fluorescent signals on unstained samples. circle LATscan generate high-quality 2D images and 3D reconstructions of woody plant samples; therefore, this new technology is useful for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. This high-throughput imaging technology has the potential to bolster phenotyping of vegetative and reproductive anatomy, wood anatomy, and other biological systems.

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The Liana Ecology Project is supported by Marquette University and funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

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