A semi-automated method for measuring xylem vessel length distribution
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A semi-automated method for measuring xylem vessel length distribution Luciano Pereira . Marcela T. Miranda . Gabriel S. Pires . Vinı´cius S. Pacheco . Xinyi Guan . Lucian Kaack . Zohreh Karimi . Eduardo C. Machado . Steven Jansen . Melvin T. Tyree . Rafael V. Ribeiro
Received: 3 August 2020 / Accepted: 3 October 2020 Ó Brazilian Society of Plant Physiology 2020
Abstract Knowledge about the length of xylem vessels is essential to understand water transport in plants because these multicellular units show a 100-fold variation, from less than a centimeter to many meters. However, the available methods to estimate vessel length (VL) distribution are excessively time consuming and do not allow large and indepth surveys. Here, we describe a semi-automated method to measure hydraulically-weighted VL (VLH) using an automated Pneumatron device. Gas Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40626-020-00189-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. L. Pereira (&) M. T. Miranda E. C. Machado Laboratory of Plant Physiology ‘‘Coaracy M. Franco’’, Center R&D in Ecophysiology and Biophysics, Agronomic Institute (IAC), Campinas SP, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] L. Pereira M. T. Miranda G. S. Pires V. S. Pacheco R. V. Ribeiro (&) Laboratory of Crop Physiology, Department of Plant Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas SP, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]
conductivity of a xylem tissue with a certain length is estimated with the Pneumatron in a straightforward and precise way, theoretically similar to the airinjection method. Besides giving results similar to the silicone-injection method, the pneumatic-based method enables faster and easier measurements of more than 50 samples per day, which is a significant advantage. Herein, a detailed description of the methodology is presented as well as the software and an R-script for data analysis. The method described represents an important contribution to studies on plant hydraulic architecture and can improve our understanding about the role of VLH in plant performance under varying water availability. Z. Karimi Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran M. T. Tyree College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
L. Pereira X. Guan L. Kaack S. Jansen Institute of Systematic Botany and Ecology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
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Theor. Exp. Plant Physiol.
Keywords Plant hydraulics Pneumatic method Pneumatron Vessel Xylem Water relations
1 Introduction Vessels in angiosperm xylem are formed by stacking of individual vessel elements, which are typically jointed near their tips by a single or multiple perforation (Medeiros et al. 2019). Whereas individual vessel elements are less than one millimeter, the total vessel length may vary from one centimeter to more than 10 m (Greenidge 1952). Besides the connections vi
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