Watching Sugars Move in Plants
New radiolabeled compound used to image sucrose transport.
The Science
Fluorine-18 is a radioactive isotope that emits positrons, or positively charged subatomic particles that have the same mass and magnitude of charge as negative electrons. Using positron emission tomography (PET), scientists can image within living organisms the movement and localization of molecules containing fluorine-18.
The Impact
Results from this study will enable investigators to image sucrose metabolism in living plants, thereby gaining insight into plant metabolic pathways with potential value for biofuel production.
Summary
Fluorine-18-labeled fluorosugars, or natural sugars into which fluorine-18 atoms have been incorporated, enable study of the mechanisms by which living organisms use and process these biomolecules and offer opportunities to observe sugar distribution and metabolism in real time. Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has already been established as an important PET imaging agent in human medicine. Now, Department of Energy (DOE) scientists at the University of Missouri–Columbia have devised a similar technique for imaging sugar movement in vascular plants, which are known to transport the bulk of their carbohydrate load in the form of sucrose. The researchers synthesized fluorine-18 fluorodeoxysucrose (FDS) and used it to obtain the first images of corn plant leaves that demonstrate real-time transport of the sugar.
Contact
Michael Harmata
Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri–Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
harmatam@missouri.edu
Funding
This work was generously supported by a grant (DE-SC0002040) from the DOE Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research program.
Publications
Gaddam, V., and Harmata, M. “Synthesis of 6′-deoxy-6′-fluorosucrose.”Carbohydr. Res. 369, 38–41 (2013). [DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2012.12.001]
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