Simin Bi: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Academy for Engineering and Technology, Human Phenome Institute, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Metasurfaces for Light Manipulation, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Jianpeng Ao: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Academy for Engineering and Technology, Human Phenome Institute, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Metasurfaces for Light Manipulation, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Ting Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
Xianmiao Zhu: National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Yimin Zhu: National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Weibing Yang: National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Binglian Zheng: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
Minbiao Ji: State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics and Department of Physics, Academy for Engineering and Technology, Human Phenome Institute, Key Laboratory of Micro and Nano Photonic Structures (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Metasurfaces for Light Manipulation, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China. ORCID
Water plays a vital role in the life cycle of plants, participating in various critical biochemical reactions during both non-photosynthetic and photosynthetic processes. Direct visualization of the metabolic activities of water in plants with high spatiotemporal resolution is essential to reveal the functional utilization of water. Here, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy is applied to monitor the metabolic processes of deuterated water (DO) in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana). The work shows that in plants uptaking DO/water solution, proton-transfer from water to organic metabolites results in the formation of C-D bonds in newly synthesized biomolecules (lipid, protein, and polysaccharides, etc.) that allow high-resolution detection with SRS. Reversible metabolic pathways of oil-starch conversion between seed germination and seed development processes are verified. Spatial heterogeneity of metabolic activities along the vertical axis of plants (root, stem, and tip meristem), as well as the radial distributions of secondary growth on the horizontal cross-sections are quantified. Furthermore, metabolic flow of protons from plants to animals is visualized in aphids feeding on A. thaliana. Collectively, SRS microscopy has potential to trace a broad range of matter flows in plants, such as carbon storage and nutrition metabolism.
