Quantitative light element (sodium and potassium) profiling in plant tissues using monochromatic X-ray fluorescence analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Accurately determining the elemental composition of plant tissues is essential for physiological studies on plant stress, including salinity tolerance. However, high-throughput routine analysis of light elements (range of sodium to calcium) in plant samples is challenging due to the need for complete sample dissolution and expensive inductively coupled plasma-mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. Lower costs method (ion chromatography, ion selective electrodes) exists, but also require sample dissolution and lack sensitivity for very small samples (<10 mg). This study reports on a new method for the quantitative analysis of light elements in plant tissues using monochromatic X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrumentation and innovative sample preparation and mounting. We used this approach to assess elemental uptake, distribution, and accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa plants subjected to salt stress. The method can be used on samples as small as 1 mg making it suitable for small Arabidopsis thaliana plants. We systematically evaluated different sample preparations methods, repeatability, and measurement times to confirm the robustness of the technique. The results show that the monochromatic XRF method delivers rapid, non-destructive, and extraction-free analysis, strongly correlating with ICP-MS acquired data. As such, the monochromatic XRF method is a reliable and efficient alternative for studying salinity tolerance ideally suited for investigating elemental composition of early plant developmental stages, offering new possibilities for research into early stimuli sensing, perception and nutrient efficiency.

Plant phenotyping relevance

植物組織の元素状態を測定するXRF法の開発と、試料調製・反復性・測定時間・ICP-MSとの相関による検証が中心であり、植物の生理状態を定量するフェノタイピング手法に該当する。

Code and data availability

The paper describes XRF/ICP-MS Na and K measurements in Arabidopsis and rice, with raw data said to be in Supplemental Table 1, but no public deposit URL, repository, or author code availability is provided. The Z-Spec URLs are vendor instrument pages, not paper-specific datasets or analysis code.

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