An Appraisal on the Source-to-Sink Relationship in Plants: an Application of Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging

• Autor(a) principal: Freitas,Julia R. L.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Vendramini,Pedro H., Melo,Júlio O. F., Eberlin,Marcos N., Augusti,Rodinei
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-50532018000100017
• topic: desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging; nutrient transport in plants; amino acids; carbohydrates; peppermint leaves; distinct stages of maturation

Amino acids/ureides and carbohydrates are the main nutrients for the plants growth. These metabolites are continuously translocated through the plant organism via well-known transportation mechanisms. The well-established source-to-sink relationship involves the transfer of these nutrients from mature (source) to young (sink) leaves. Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) is used herein to determine the spatial distribution of amino acids/ureides and carbohydrates in the imprintings of Mentha × piperita L. leaves at three distinct maturation stages: young, expanding, and mature. Hence, chemical images of some typical carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose, sorbitol/mannitol) and free amino acids/ureides (phenylalanine, leucine, histidine, aspartate, asparagine, tyrosine, glutamate, allantoic acid) clearly point to a source-to-sink relationship, as the young leaves are the final destination for some of these key metabolites. These results therefore reveal the high potential of DESI-MSI to investigate biochemical processes in plants, a still underexplored area.