Quantitative MRI imaging of parenchyma and venation networks in Brassica napus leaves: effects of development and dehydration.

Abstract

Background Characterisation of the structure and water status of leaf tissues is essential to the understanding of leaf hydraulic functioning under optimal and stressed conditions. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is unique in its capacity to access this information in a spatially resolved, non-invasive and non-destructive way. The purpose of this study was to develop an original approach based on transverse relaxation mapping by Magnetic Resonance Imaging for the detection of changes in water status and distribution at cell and tissue levels in Brassica napus leaves during blade development and dehydration. Results By combining transverse relaxation maps with a classification scheme, we were able to distinguish specific zones of areoles and veins. The tissue heterogeneity observed in young leaves still occurred in mature and senescent leaves, but with different distributions of T 2 values in accordance with the basipetal progression of leaf blade development, revealing changes in tissue structure. When subjected to severe water stress, all blade zones showed similar behaviours. Conclusion This study demonstrates the great potential of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in assessing information on the structure and water status of leaves. The feasibility of in planta leaf measurements was demonstrated, opening up many opportunities for the investigation of leaf structure and hydraulic functioning during development and/or in response to abiotic stresses.

Plant phenotyping relevance

葉の構造と水分状態を定量MRIで空間的に測定する新規手法を開発し、分類法と組み合わせて葉組織・葉脈を評価しており、植物フェノタイピング手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

The paper's MRI T2 maps, leaf images, and MATLAB/R analysis are not deposited in any public repository. The authors state that all data and materials are available only upon request from the corresponding author. No public code, dataset, or image URLs are provided in the supplied blocks.

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