Investigating phloem transport dynamics in Arabidopsis through compartmental modelling of positron emission tomography data

Abstract Background Phloem is the long-distance transport tissue of vascular plants in which photoassimilates are distributed from sources (e.g., leaves) to sinks (e.g., roots, fruits). Phloem transport occurs under pressure, making it very sensitive to manipulation and almost experimentally inaccessible. Therefore, functional data on phloem speed and dynamic distribution of photoassimilates along the transport pathway are still scarce, both in trees and herbaceous plants. This study presents a methodological pipeline to image phloem transport in very thin shoots of the model plant Arabidopsis using photosynthetic uptake of 11 CO 2 and state-of-the-art positron emission tomography (PET). Results Successful application of the latest generation preclinical PET scanners allowed in vivo visualization of internal movement of 11 C-labelled photoassimilates inside primary and secondary shoots of 1 to 2 mm diameter every 5 min. Using this data as input in a compartmental model enabled estimation of (i) phloem front speed, and (ii) radial carbon partitioning between leakage-retrieval phloem, carbon storage and respiratory efflux. The methodology shows that the phloem front speed of recently fixed carbon in primary shoots was almost two-fold the speed in secondary shoots (128 vs. 70 µm s −1 ). Furthermore, it was estimated that the fraction of recently fixed 11 CO 2 that was unloaded from the phloem to the surrounding storage cells and retrieved back into the phloem was higher in primary shoots than in secondary shoots, and that allocation to the storage compartment was higher in secondary shoots. Within the primary shoot, the fraction of unloading and retrieval of the 11 C-labelled photosynthates increased towards the inflorescence. Conclusion Here, we demonstrate the synergistic application of high-resolution PET scanning and compartmental modelling as a promising approach to advance our understanding of phloem dynamics in small-dimension plants, such as the model plant Arabidopsis. With this, an opportunity is created to explore the genetic basis of phloem dynamics.