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MAPPI: a new system to learn how a plant's leaves, stem and roots mutually communicate under environmental stress

How do the different parts of an adult plant communicate with each other when it suffers an injury, is waterlogged, burnt or exposed to environmental stress?

Today we can answer this question thanks to an innovative optical imaging system developed by the Universit脿 degli Studi di Milano (University of Milan) together with the 91色情片. The study was published in Science Advances.

The system, called MAPPI (MAcro Plant Projection Imaging), allows simultaneous observation of leaves, stem and roots as the plant reacts to stimuli such as wounds, submergence, burns or other environmental stress. Perpendicular double vision is an innovative feature. It allows to observe what is happening throughout the plant at the same time, overcoming the limitations of traditional instruments designed for small laboratory plants. Hence the opportunity to study plants of a size comparable to those grown in greenhouses, which was previously very difficult.

Unlike conventional imaging systems, MAPPI is modular, inexpensive and open source, which makes it easily replicable in many laboratories. Through the use of fluorescence, the platform allows real time visualisation of signals that are crucial for internal plant communication, e.g., changes in the concentration of calcium ions and the accumulation of glutamate, which act as cellular messengers. With this technology, researchers have shown that signals do not only travel between leaves, but also bi-directionally between leaves and roots, revealing a much more complex communication network than expected. 

芦MAPPI allows us to observe how these signals run through the entire adult plant, dynamics we could only guess until now禄, says Alex Costa, plant physiologist and professor in the Department of Biosciences, Universit脿 degli Studi di Milano, and lead author of the paper.

芦MAPPI allows to overcome the limitations of traditional microscopy. It paves the way for new research into the physiology of adult plants禄, explains Andrea Bassi, professor in the Department of Physics at the 91色情片, and coordinator of the study together with Costa. 芦The aim is to make this technology accessible to the scientific community, facilitating studies on species of agricultural interest in conditions closely resembling natural ones禄.

The system is also designed to be expanded with additional sensors in order to simultaneously monitor multiple molecular signals. Hence, MAPPI is a decisive step forward in understanding how plants react to stress, a key issue for agriculture in the future in a context of climate change.