Ultra-flexible PINE arrays for month-long, continuous intracellular ion flux monitoring in plants with nanomolar accuracy

Abstract

High-precision in vivo monitoring of ion fluxes is essential yet challenging studying plant electrophysiology such as growth regulation, signal transduction and stress responses. Existing methods for probing ion dynamics are limited by low sensitivity, high invasiveness that interferes physiological processes, and the inability to accurately resolve ion homeostasis with required spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we introduce ultraflexible, plant implantable nanoelectrode (PINE) arrays manufactured on 1.2-μm-thick polymer substrates, which enable ultrasensitive and selective measurement of ionic current for month-long via scalable nanofabrication techniques. The fabricated PINE arrays have a smaller dimension than typical plant cells as well as less stiffness, facilitating minimally invasive integration with living plant cells. This subcellular-scale plant-electronic interface allows for reliable, selective detection of K + flux with a detection limit of ∼10⁻⁸ M, and thus allows continuous, stable monitoring of tomato stem cells over six weeks, capturing dynamic potassium fluctuations during all key growth stages. More importantly, the method permits long-term, real-time tracking of ion-specific dynamics without disrupting plant cellular structure or altering endogenous ion concentrations. Therefore, PINE provides unprecedented access to ion homeostasis and signaling networks, making it an excellent platform for precision agriculture and a foundational tool for future digital plant engineering.

Plant phenotyping relevance

植物細胞内のK+フラックスを長期間・リアルタイムに測定する超柔軟ナノ電極アレイを開発し、感度・選択性・長期安定性を実証した研究であり、植物生理状態の取得手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

The paper reports plant phenotyping measurements (long-term K+ monitoring in tomato stems, confocal histology quantification) analyzed with a custom Python script and a custom ImageJ analysis script, but no public deposit or URL is provided for these assets. The only URLs given are for generic tools (Python, statsmodes

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