Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI)

1 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Environment

Xylem Water Distribution in Woody Plants Visualized with a Cryo-scanning Electron Microscope

Kenichi Yazaki¹, Mayumi Y. Ogasa², Katsushi Kuroda³, Yasuhiro Utsumi⁴, Peter Kitin⁵, Yuzou Sano⁶

¹Department of Plant Ecology, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ²Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ³Department of Wood Properties and Processing, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), ⁴Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, ⁵Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, ⁶Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University

Observing the water distribution within the xylem provides significant information regarding water flow dynamics in woody plants. In this study, we demonstrate the practical approach to observe xylem water distribution in situ by using a cryostat and cryo-SEM, which eliminates artifactual changes in the water status during sample preparation.