M E T H O D S I N M O L E C U L A R B I O L O G Y ™

Series EditorJohn M. Walker

School of Life SciencesUniversity of Hertfordshire

Hat fi eld, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK

For further volumes:http://www.springer.com/series/7651

Plant Mineral Nutrients

Methods and Protocols

Edited by

Frans J.M. Maathuis

Department of Biology, University of York, York, UK

EditorFrans J.M. MaathuisDepartment of BiologyUniversity of YorkYork, UK

ISSN 1064-3745 ISSN 1940-6029 (electronic)ISBN 978-1-62703-151-6 ISBN 978-1-62703-152-3 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-1-62703-152-3Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012949518

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v

Preface

Plants require a range of essential macro and micronutrients for their growth and development. For terrestrial plants, all mineral nutrients derive from the soil. Although research into the roles and functions of such minerals stretches back more than 150 years, there are still many unresolved questions, even where the de fi nition of “essential mineral” is concerned.

The study of plant mineral nutrition has both academic and applied aspects to it. The simple fact that the human diet is, directly or indirectly, plant based has obvious and pro-found implications in this respect. Today, research into plant mineral nutrition is more pertinent than ever in the face of a growing world population and the increasing need for sustainable agriculture.

The study of plant mineral research touches on many biological disciplines such as bio-physical techniques to follow uptake and distribution of mineral ions, analytical methods to measure minerals in soil and tissue, whole plant physiology to assess growth and develop-ment in different conditions, and, more recently, the whole gambit of molecular approaches to characterize the relevant genes and proteins. Furthermore, it spans a large spatiotempo-ral range from subcellular to whole plants and from msec to months.

This volume contains a comprehensive collection of methodologies that are routinely used in plant mineral nutrition research. It describes easy-to-follow protocols that will allow the researcher to study the most relevant aspects of plant mineral nutrition, including growth parameters, ion contents and composition, soil analyses, fl ux measurements, and the use of public facilities for high-throughput analyses. As such this volume should be of great use to plant scientists at every level but particularly to plant physiologists, crop scien-tists, and horticulturalists.

York, UK Frans J.M. Maathuis

vii

Contents

Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vContributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

1 Roles and Functions of Plant Mineral Nutrients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Frans J.M. Maathuis and Eugene Diatloff

2 Plant Growth and Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Dorina Podar

3 Protocols for Growing Plant Symbioses; Mycorrhiza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Michael Schultze

4 Protocols for Growing Plant Symbioses; Rhizobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Benjamin Gourion, Marie Bourcy, Viviane Cosson, and Pascal Ratet

5 Plant Cell Suspension Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Roberto Moscatiello, Barbara Baldan, and Lorella Navazio

6 Soil Analysis Using Visible and Near Infrared Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Johanna Wetterlind, Bo Stenberg, and Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel

7 Mineral Composition Analysis: Measuring Anion Uptake and Anion Concentrations in Plant Tissues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Malcolm J. Hawkesford, Saroj Parmar, and Peter Buchner

8 Multielement Plant Tissue Analysis Using ICP Spectrometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121T.H. Hansen , T.C. de Bang , K.H. Laursen, P. Pedas, S. Husted, and J.K. Schjoerring

9 Mapping Element Distributions in Plant Tissues Using Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Erica Donner, Martin D. de Jonge, Peter M. Kopittke, and Enzo Lombi

10 Flux Measurements of Cations Using Radioactive Tracers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161D.T. Britto and H.J. Kronzucker

11 Ion Flux Measurements Using the MIFE Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Sergey Shabala, Lana Shabala, Jayakumar Bose, Tracey Cuin, and Ian Newman

12 Sampling and Analysis of Phloem Sap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Sylvie Dinant and Julia Kehr

13 Methods for Xylem Sap Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195M. Alexou and A.D. Peuke

viii Contents

14 Plant Single Cell Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Wieland Fricke

15 Measurements of Cytosolic Ion Concentrations in Live Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Veena S. Anil, Kavitha P.G., Sam Kuruvilla, Pavan Kumar, and M.K. Mathew

16 Real Time Measurement of Cytoplasmic Ions with Ion-Selective Microelectrodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Anthony J. Miller

17 Large-Scale Plant Ionomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255John M.C. Danku, Brett Lahner, Elena Yakubova, and David E. Salt

18 Applications of High-Throughput Plant Phenotyping to Study Nutrient Use Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Bettina Berger, Bas de Regt, and Mark Tester

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

ix

Contributors

M. ALEXOU • National Agricultural Research Foundation (NAGREF), Forest Research Institute (FRI) , Thessaloniki , Greece

VEENA S. ANIL • Department of (Agri) Biotechnology , College of Agriculture-Hassan, Subcampus of University of Agricultural Sciences , Bangalore , India

BARBARA BALDAN • Department of Biology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy BETTINA BERGER • The Plant Accelerator, University of Adelaide , Urrbrae ,

SA , Australia JAYAKUMAR BOSE • School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania ,

Hobart , TAS , Australia MARIE BOURCY • Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS , Gif sur Yvette , France D. T. BRITTO • Department of Biological Sciences , University of Toronto ,

Toronto , ON , Canada PETER BUCHNER • Rothamsted Research , Harpenden , Hertfordshire , UK VIVIANE COSSON • Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS , Gif sur Yvette , France TRACEY CUIN • School of Agricultural Science University of Tasmania , Hobart , TAS ,

Australia; Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Montpellier SupAgro, Université Montpellier II , Montpellier , France

JOHN M.C. DANKU • School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen , UK

T.C. DE BANG • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture and Ecology, Faculty of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark

MARTIN D. DE JONGE • Australian Synchrotron , Clayton , VIC , Australia BAS DE REGT • The Plant Accelerator , University of Adelaide , Urrbrae , SA , Australia EUGENE DIATLOFF • INRA AgroParisTech, Inst Natl Rech Agron, Inst Jean

Pierre Bourgin, UMR , Versailles , France SYLVIE DINANT • Institut Jean Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), INRA-AgroParisTech ,

Versailles , France ERICA DONNER • Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation,

University of South Australia , Adelaide , SA , Australia ; CRC Care , Salisbury , SA , Australia

WIELAND FRICKE • School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin (UCD) , Dublin , Ireland

BENJAMIN GOURION • Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS , Gif sur Yvette , France T. H. HANSEN • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture

and Ecology, Faculty of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark MALCOLM J. HAWKESFORD • Rothamsted Research , Harpenden , Hertfordshire , UK S. HUSTED • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture and Ecology,

Faculty of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark

x Contributors

KAVITHA P.G. • Membrane Biophysics Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences-G.K.V.K Campus , Bangalore , India

JULIA KEHR • Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP), Campus de Montegancedo , Madrid , Spain

PETER M. KOPITTKE • CRC CARE, PO , Salisbury , SA , Australia ; The University of Queensland, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences , St. Lucia , QLD , Australia

H. J. KRONZUCKER • Department of Biological Sciences , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada

PAVAN KUMAR • Membrane Biophysics Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Uni-versity of Agricultural Sciences-G.K.V.K Campus , Bangalore , India

SAM KURUVILLA • Membrane Biophysics Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences-G.K.V.K Campus , Bangalore , India

BRETT LAHNER • Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture , Purdue University , West Lafayette , IN , USA

K.H. LAURSEN • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture and Ecology, Faculty of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark

ENZO LOMBI • Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia , Adelaide , SA , Australia

FRANS J.M. MAATHUIS • Biology Department , University of York , York , UK M. K. MATHEW • Membrane Biophysics Group, National Centre for Biological Sciences,

University of Agricultural Sciences-G.K.V.K Campus , Bangalore , India ANTHONY J. MILLER • Department of Disease and Stress Biology , John Innes Centre, Nor-

wich Research Park , Norwich , UK ROBERTO MOSCATIELLO • Department of Biology , University of Padova , Padova , Italy LORELLA NAVAZIO • Dipartimento di Biologia , Università di Padova , Padova , Italy IAN NEWMAN • School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania , Hobart , Aus-

tralia SAROJ PARMAR • Rothamsted Research , Hertfordshire , UK S. PEDAS • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture and Ecology, Faculty

of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark A. D. PEUKE • ADP International Plant Science Consulting , Gundel fi ngen , Germany DORINA PODAR • Faculty of Biology and Geology, Department of Experimental Biology ,

Babes-Bolyai University , St. Cluj-Napoca , Cluj , Romania PASCAL RATET • Institut des Sciences du Végétal, CNRS , Gif sur Yvette , France DAVID E. SALT • School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen , UK J.K. SCHJOERRING • Plant and Soil Science Section, Department of Agriculture

and Ecology, Faculty of Science , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark MICHAEL SCHULTZE • Biology Department , University of York , York , UK LANA SHABALA • School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania ,

Hobart , Australia SERGEY SHABALA • School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania ,

Hobart , Australia BO STENBERG • Department of Soil and Environment , Swedish University

of Agricultural Sciences , Skara , Sweden

xiContributors

MARK TESTER • Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics University of Adelaide , Urrbrae , SA , Australia

RAPHAEL A. VISCARRA ROSSEL • Department of Soil and Environment , Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Skara , Sweden

JOHANNA WETTERLIND • Department of Soil and Environment , Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Skara , Sweden

ELENA YAKUBOVA • Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture , Purdue University , West Lafayette , IN , USA