title: In situ molecular analysis of plant tissues by live single-cell mass spectrometry.
abstract: We report the development of a rapid, direct molecular analysis of live, single plant cells viewed under a video microscope in their natural environment. A nanoelectrospray tip was used to extract the contents of a single leaf, stem, or petal cell from Pelargonium zonale, and the samples were analyzed on an Orbitrap mass spectrometer by nanoelectrospray ionization. Around a thousand m/z peaks belonging to metabolites and other compounds in each sample were obtained and processed by using statistical tools to find the cell specific molecular peaks. Hybrid high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis was performed to confirm the structure of specific metabolites from the analyzed samples. This method is useful for identifying specific molecules in live single cells from plant tissue and will allow different cell types and stages from different sites in the plant to be compared with morphological observations.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lorenzo Tejedor
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizuno
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsuyama
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masujima
mesh_terms: D002470:Cell Survival; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D031316:Pelargonium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods*