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3D X-ray microscopy lights up nanoparticles in plants

Kristensen, E. V.; Siracusa, F.; Pinna, A.; Ertem, I.; Szameitat, A.; Villanova, J.; Gao, X.; Schiefler, A.; Tobler, D. J.; Ghoshal, S.; Husted, S.; Mokso, R.

2025-05-11 plant biology
10.1101/2025.05.08.652794 bioRxiv
Show abstract

The discovery of novel plant fertilization strategies heavily relies on our capabilities to probe physiological processes in living plants with sub-cellular precision. State-of-the-art microscopy techniques are in general limited to surface investigation or they require elaborated tissue preparation and often destruction. X-ray microscopy has the potential to resolve some of these limitations by generating micro-to nanometer-scale 3D images deep into the tissue. We introduce experimental designs and the quantitative analysis methodologies, pioneering nanoscale ({approx}150 nm resolution) in-vivo 3D microscopy of plant tissue. We show the first direct in-vivo visualization of foliar-applied untagged nanoparticulate fertilizers deep under the leaf surface, not accessible by other microscopy methods. Ultimately, our approach provides the means for a direct observation of nanoparticle transport and dissolution in living plant tissue, a step critical for developing sustainable plant fertilization approaches.

Published in ACS Nano (predicted rank #7) · training set

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