Understanding the structural and functional relationships within plant cells and tissues is critical to plant biology and plant biotechnology research. To empower your research in plant cell and tissue analysis, we have a broad portfolio of fluorescent reagents, kits, and instruments—all designed to meet the unique challenges presented by plant tissues.

Why is Plant Cell & Tissue Analysis important?

From studying the morphology of plant cells and walls, organelles, and other cellular compartments all the way to more complex gene regulation and expression studies, cell and tissue analysis techniques and tools are critical not only for basic plant research but are also key for crop improvement programs. For example, demonstrating a trait’s mechanism of action (required for regulatory approval submissions) is critical for commercial entities developing new plant varieties.

Molecular Probes® fluorescent dyes and probes

Molecular Probes® reagents including Alexa Fluor™ dyes, Qdot® probes, Click-iT® detection assays, and ProLong® antifades are useful for a variety of plant species and plant research applications such as immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, endocytosis and transport studies, and calcium and other ion-based imaging experiments, and more.

Rubisco localization in maize leaf section using a rabbit anti-rubisco antibody and visualized with Alexa Fluor® 488 goat anti–rabbit IgG antibody.

Pectin associated with plasmodesmatal pit fields of kiwifruit cells. Pectin was tagged with an anti-pectin monoclonal antibody and visualized with Alexa Fluor® 488 goat anti–rat IgG antibody.

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Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry is ideal for the analysis of both cells and subcellular particles. This platform offers the ability to analyze a large number of parameters rapidly, simultaneously, and quantitatively, produces statistically exploitable data, and allows accurate and facilitated detection of subpopulations. Since the first reported use of this technique in plants 40 years ago, flow cytometry has become an essential tool for understanding fundamental mechanisms and processes underlying plant growth, development, and function. Key applications include the study of ploidy levels (see figure below), genome mapping, localization of sex-specific chromosomes, and plant cell and algal studies.

Nuclear holoploid genome sizing analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana leaf tissue homogenates using the Attune® Acoustic Focusing Cytometer. A. Biparametric density plot of side scatter vs. propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence with Scatter gate surrounding the fluorescent nuclei; B. Biparametric density plot of PI fluorescence (603/48 vs ≥640 nm) of Scatter gate population from A; C. Logarithmic histogram of PI fluorescence (603/48 nm) of Nuclei gate population from B; D. Linear histogram of PI fluorescence (603/48 nm) of Nuclei gate population from B. 2C, 4C, 8C, 16C and 32C denote the C-value for the respective peaks.

 

Life Technologies offers a wide range of flow cytometric analysis tools including the Attune® Acoustic Focusing Cytometer and fluorescent probes:

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