Development of real-time imaging and quantitative analysis system on nutritional absorption and excretion by crop plant root

植物根系对营养物质的吸收和排泄是重要的农业功能之一；然而，它们通常隐藏在地下，很难通过直接观察来分析。在本研究中，基于现有的放射性示踪成像技术（如PETIS），开发了根吸收/排泄的实时成像和动力学分析的新方法。此外，还利用已建立的方法阐明了植物根系的一些重要营养特性和功能。例如，使用新开发的根区成像方法直接观察油菜植物对镉的吸收，我们发现在根上处理谷胱甘肽（多种生物中常见的三肽）可诱导镉排泄到营养液中，从而抑制镉对地上部分的吸收。这些结果表明，我们的新方法在植物和农业科学方面具有很大的前景。

The nutritional absorption and excretion by plant root systems are one of the most important functions for agriculture; however, they are usually hidden under the ground and hardly analyzed by direct observations.In this study, novel methods of live imaging and kinetic analysis of absorption / excretion by the root were developed based on current radiotracer imaging technologies such as PETIS. Moreover, some important nutritional features and functions of plant root have been elucidated by using the established methods. For example, cadmium absorption by oilseed rape plants was directly observed using the newly developed root-zone imaging method, and we found that treatment of glutathione, a common tripeptide in a wide variety of organisms, onto the root induces cadmium excretion to the nutrient solution and thus suppresses cadmium uptake to the aboveground parts. These results demonstrated that our new methods are highly promising in the plant and agricultural sciences.