A Flexible Low Cost Hydroponic System for Assessing Plant Responses to Small Molecules in Sterile Conditions

Autor(es)

Monte-Bello, Carolina C. ; Araujo, Elias F. ; Martins, Marina C. M. ; Mafra, Valeria ; da Silva, Viviane C. H. ; Celente, Viviane ; Caldana, Camila

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS; v. N/A, n. 138, p. 9-pg., 2018-08-01.

Resumo

A wide range of studies in plant biology are performed using hydroponic cultures. In this work, an in vitro hydroponic growth system designed for assessing plant responses to chemicals and other substances of interest is presented. This system is highly efficient in obtaining homogeneous and healthy seedlings of the C-3 and C-4 model species Arabidopsis thaliana and Setaria viridis, respectively. The sterile cultivation avoids algae and microorganism contamination, which are known limiting factors for plant normal growth and development in hydroponics. In addition, this system is scalable, enabling the harvest of plant material on a large scale with minor mechanical damage, as well as the harvest of individual parts of a plant if desired. A detailed protocol demonstrating that this system has an easy and low-cost assembly, as it uses pipette racks as the main platform for growing plants, is provided. The feasibility of this system was validated using Arabidopsis seedlings to assess the effect of the drug AZD-8055, a chemical inhibitor of the target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase. TOR inhibition was efficiently detected as early as 30 min after an AZD-8055 treatment in roots and shoots. Furthermore, AZD-8055-treated plants displayed the expected starch-excess phenotype. We proposed this hydroponic system as an ideal method for plant researchers aiming to monitor the action of plant inducers or inhibitors, as well as to assess metabolic fluxes using isotope-labeling compounds which, in general, requires the use of expensive reagents. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/10407-3 - Interação entre a via Target of Rapamycin (TOR) e o metabolismo energético em plantas
• Beneficiário: Carolina Cassano Monte Bello
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 12/19561-0 - Regulação do crescimento pela via Target of rapamycin (TOR) em plantas
• Beneficiário: Camila Caldana
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOEN - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 14/07918-6 - Caracterização funcional do gene Target of Rapamycin using Setaria como planta modelo: dissecando o papel da via TOR regulando crescimento e metabolismo em plantas C4
• Beneficiário: Valéria Mafra Cota
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado