Exploring the transport of plant metabolites using positron emitting radiotracers

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Abstract
Short‐lived positron‐emitting radiotracer techniques provide time‐dependent data that are critical for developing models of metabolite transport and resource distribution in plants and their microenvironments. Until recently these techniques were applied to measure radiotracer accumulation in coarse regions along transport pathways. The recent application of positron emission tomography (PET) techniques to plant research allows for detailed quantification of real‐time metabolite dynamics on previously unexplored spatial scales. PET provides dynamic information with millimeter‐scale resolution on labeled carbon, nitrogen, and water transport over a small plant‐size field of view. Because details at the millimeter scale may not be required for all regions of interest, hybrid detection systems that combine high‐resolution imaging with other radiotracer counting technologies offer the versatility needed to pursue wide‐ranging plant physiological and ecological research. In this perspective we describe a recen...