A minimally disruptive method for measuring water potential in planta using hydrogel nanoreporters

Abstract

Gaps in our ability to document local water relations in leaves compromise our ability to build complete models of leaf and plant function and our understanding of ecophysiological phenomena, such as response and adaptation to drought. Macroscopically, leaf water potential has been shown to impact vegetative growth and yield, susceptibility to disease, and, in extreme drought, plant viability, making it a promising candidate trait to improve water-use efficiency in plants. In this paper, we present a nanoscale sensor (AquaDust) that provides minimally disruptive measurements of water potential in leaves of intact plants at high spatial and temporal resolution. This creates opportunities for improving our understanding of the mechanisms coupling variations in water potential to biological and physical processes.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 31, 2021
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.2008276118

Entities

People

  • Abraham D Stroock
  • Christine Yao-Yun Chang
  • Duke Pauli
  • Fulton E Rockwell
  • Jeffrey Melkonian
  • Michael A Gore
  • N Michele Holbrook
  • Piyush Jain
  • Siyu Zhu
  • Susan J. Riha
  • Warren R. Zipfel
  • Weizhen Liu
  • Ying Sun

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Cornell University
  • Harvard University
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aquatic Ecology
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design