%0 Journal Article
%A Agyei, Kwabena
%A Detring, Justus
%A Metzner, Ralf
%A Huber, Gregor
%A Pflugfelder, Daniel
%A Eini, Omid
%A Varrelmann, Mark
%A Mahlein, Anne-Katrin
%A Koller, Robert
%T Syndrome “basses richesses” disease induced structural deformations and sectorial distribution of photoassimilates in sugar beet taproot revealed by combined MRI-PET imaging
%J Plant phenomics
%V 7
%N 2
%@ 2097-0374
%C Washington, D.C.
%I American Association for the Advancement of Science
%M FZJ-2025-04930
%P 100053 -
%D 2025
%X The disease syndrome “basses richesses” (SBR) leads to a significant reduction in sugar beet biomass and sugarcontent, negatively affecting the sugar economy. The mechanistic understanding regarding growth and photoassimilatesdistribution within the sugar beet taproot diseased with SBR is currently incomplete. We combinedtwo tomographic methods, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) using11C as tracer, to non-invasively determine SBR effects on structural growth and photoassimilates distributionwithin the developing taproot over six weeks. MRI analysis revealed a deformed cross-sectional anatomicalstructure from an early stage, as well as a reduction in taproot volume and width of inner cambium ringstructures of up to 26 and 24 %, respectively. These SBR disease effects were also confirmed by post-harvestanalysis of the taproot. PET analysis revealed a heterogeneous distribution of labeled photoassimilates fordiseased plants: sectors of the taproot with characteristic SBR symptoms showed little to very low 11C tracersignal. The heterogeneity of SBR disease effects is most likely due to a partial inoculation of leaves leading to anuneven distribution of the SBR pathogen in the taproot through the strong vascular interconnection betweenshoot and root. Also, the pathogen needs to spread non-uniformly within the taproot to explain the observedmarked increase of the SBR disease effects over time. Our results indicate that SBR affects photoassimilates sinkcapacity at an early stage of taproot development. Co-registration of MRI and PET may support an early judgingof susceptibility and selection of promising genotype candidates for future breeding programs.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%R 10.1016/j.plaphe.2025.100053
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1048822