Chemical Stimulation of the Arabidopsis thaliana Root using Multi-Laminar Flow on a Microfluidic Chip
Abstract
In this article, we developed a "plant on a chip" microfluidic platform that can control the local chemical environment around live roots of Arabidopsis thaliana with high spatial resolution using multi-laminar flow. We characterized the flow profile around the Arabidopsis root, and verified that the shear forces within the device ([similar]10 dyne cm^−2) did not impede growth of the roots. Our platform was able to deliver stimuli to the root at a spatial resolution of 10–800 µm. Further, the platform was validated by exposing desired regions of the root with a synthetic auxin derivative, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and its inhibitor N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA). The response to the stimuli was observed using a DR5::GFP Arabidopsis line, where GFP expression is coupled to the auxin response regulator DR5. GFP expression in the root matched the position of the flow-focused stream containing 2,4-D. When the regions around the 2,4-D stimulus were exposed to the auxin transport inhibitor NPA, the active and passive transport mechanisms of auxin could be differentiated, as NPA blocks active cell-to-cell transport of auxin. Finally, we demonstrated that local 2,4-D stimulation in a [similar]10 µm root segment enhanced morphological changes such as epidermal hair growth. These experiments were proof-of-concept and agreed with the results expected based on known root biology, demonstrating that this "root on a chip" platform can be used to test how root development is affected by any chemical component of interest, including nitrogen, phosphate, salts, and other plant hormones.
Additional Information
© Royal Society of Chemistry 2010. Received 24th March 2010, Accepted 25th May 2010. First published on the web 11th June 2010. This work was supported in part by Grant 1R01GM0773301 from the NIH and by the NIH Director's Pioneer Award program (1DP1OD003584). M.M. was supported by the Alexander v. Humboldt Society. E.M.L. was supported by the Yen Postdoctoral Fellowship. We thank Prof. Jocelyn Malamy at the University of Chicago for DR5::GFP Arabidopsis thaliana seeds and scientific comments.Attached Files
Published - Ismagilov_LOC_2010_Arabidopsis_stimulation_multilaminar_flow_MM_EML_10_2147_2153_1_.pdf
Accepted Version - nihms-215129.pdf
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC2912432
- Eprint ID
- 40837
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130821-160725940
- 1R01GM0773301
- NIH
- 1DP1 OD003584
- NIH
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Yen Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Created
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2013-08-26Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field