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| Home > Publications database > Modelling of 11C Tracer Transport in Plants |
| Conference Presentation (After Call) | FZJ-2022-01176 |
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2021
Abstract: Understanding long-distance transport in plants enables the investigation of functional traits under the influence of diverse environmental factors. Especially carbon partitioning in the phloem is of great interest, as it ensures the growth and survival of higher plants. Despite the long familiarity of these transport mechanisms, quantifying their physical properties remains a complicated task due to the many factors that influence transport. Also, efficiently measuring the flow itself often poses a problem, as many sampling methods are destructive and may distort the allocation. Therefore, non-invasive methods utilising radioactive tracers have been established in plant physiological and ecological research. For example, CO2 marked with the short-lived radioisotope 11C can be introduced to the plant as carbon source to investigate carbon partitioning. The tracer inside the plant organs can be detected and localised by positron emission tomography (PET). In order to estimate certain transport properties, the obtained spatially and temporally resolved tracer data can be analysed with mathematical methods. Here, we present the modelling approach of Bühler et al. (2014-2018), who introduced a model family that represents tracer transport in the phloem in several compartments. Between the compartments axial convection as well as lateral exchange can take place. We demonstrate how this modelling framework allows estimation of transport parameters such as plant specific flow velocities and the amount of tracer stored along the transport pathway by fitting them to experimentally obtained data. Finally, we discuss how the modelling framework can be extended to enable analysis of complex datasets from branched plant structures.
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