The Laboratory of Plant Physiology, at The Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia is part of an international consortium which seeks to reveal the secrets behind the composition of elements in plant tissue. In this fascinating discussion, the partners outline the cutting-edge technology propelling this exciting field forward. By studying the structure and constitution of plants, scientists try to understand how they work. State-of-the-art imaging technologies reveal the spatial biochemical make-up of plants through visualising the elemental and molecular information present in plants at all levels of organisation. The bioimaging techniques developed by the consortium have applications in applied plant sciences, where it assists in the refinement of agricultural, food and bioremediation practices. Equipped with this ability to merge elemental, molecular and morphological information, the consortium is in a position to advise other scientists and students as well as public and private organisations about the applications of their work. As such, they hold regular multidisciplinary workshops to spread the latest news and information about cutting-edge instrumentation and plant nutrient related enquiries (in attachement).
F.11 Development of a new service
COBISS.SI-ID: 2862159Recently we completed a construction of a cryostat at Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) nuclear microprobe enabling us to analyze various types of biological samples in frozen hydrated state using micro-PIXE/STIM/RBS. Sample load-lock system was added to our existing setup to enable us to quickly insert a sample holder with frozen hydrated tissue samples onto a cold goniometer head cooled with liquid nitrogen inside the measuring chamber. Cryotome-cut slices of frozen hydrated plant samples were mounted between two thin silicon nitride foils and then attached to the sample holder. Sufficient thermal contact between silicon nitride foils and sample holder must be achieved, as well as between the sample holder and the cold goniometer head inside the measuring chamber to prevent melting of the samples. Matrix composition of frozen hydrated tissue is consisted mostly of ice. Thinning of the sample as well as water evaporation during high vacuum and proton beam exposure was inspected by the measurements with RBS and STIM method simultaneously with micro-PIXE. For first measuring attempts a standard micro-PIXE configuration for tissue mapping was used with proton beam cross section of 1.2 x 1.2 um and a beam current of 100 pA. The temperature of the cold goniometer head was kept below 130 K throughout the entire proton beam exposure. First measurements of thin plant tissue samples in frozen hydrated state show minute sample degradation during the 10 h period of micro-PIXE measurements.
F.11 Development of a new service
COBISS.SI-ID: 2762063The colonisation and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on roots of grapevines were investigated in production vineyards located along a 500-km-long stretch of karst along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. AMF communities on roots of grapevines were analysed using temporal temperature gel electrophoresis and sequencing of the 18S and internal transcribed spacer segments of the rDNA operon. The AMF colonisation of these grapevines roots was consistent along the whole of this east Adriatic karst region, at 64 to 82% of fine roots. The comparison of the AMF communities on the roots of these grapevines showed that the fungal community associated with grapevine roots seems to be relatively stable, with inter-vineyard variability comparable to intravineyard variability. Some of the changes in the fungal communities were attributed to environmental factors (plant-available P) and location of the vineyard, although the latter could also have been influenced by an unmeasured environmental factor. A total of 27 taxa of fungi were identified, including taxa from Glomus group B, based on the sequencing of 18S rDNA. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA yielded 30 different fungal taxa, which comprised eight different Glomeromycota taxa, including Glomus sinuosum and Glomus indicum. To our knowledge, this is the first report of grapevine colonisation by G. indicum.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 2757711