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Whole-plant gas exchange cuvette for Arabidopsis and other small plants

詳細技術說明

None

*Abstract

The cuvette consists of an articulating base which is shallow and cup-shaped. The base is curved downwards toward the middle point and thins in cross section towards the middle. The base is composed of two hinged halves, splitting the cup transversely. The interior vertical walls of the base also have a milled track that accommodates the square cross sectioned o-ring that seals the replaceable clear top to the base upon base closure and tightening. A thin polycarbonate sheet is formed to fit the interior bottom surface of the base, forming a top over the air distribution tree. This top is drilled with many small holes so that afferent air enters the sealed cuvette across the entire bottom of the articulating base.The purpose of the replaceable clear top is to enclose a plant in an air-tight transparent chamber through which gas can be passed past the plant parts while they photosynthesize and transpire. A cap screws down onto the top of the replaceable clear top. The cap is milled from a solid cylinder of polycarbonate. The basal third of the cylinder is milled to a few millimeters thickness and threaded to tighten on the replaceable clear top threads. With a plant in the chamber, the probe can be positioned so that the thermocouple is in contact with the plant surface by sliding the probeΓÇÖs tube inward or outward through the nylon ball and moving the tube end like a joystick. By adjusting the angle of the polycarbonate flux probe arm, one can position the quantum flux probe to approximate an angle perpendicular to the angle of incident light.Advantages 1. Articulating base-The polycarbonate cuvette base consists of two hinged pieces that articulate horizontally, opening for insertion beneath the leafy base of the plant and closing around the plant base to provide an airtight seal.2. Replaceable clear top-The base is designed to close around a top made by severing the base of a one liter PET beverage bottle, commercially available at low cost. The use of this bottle has the following advantages:a) PET is impervious to CO2 and H2O.b) PET bottles provide very high light transmission with virtually no discrimination between wavelengths in the photosynthetically active range.c) New bottles are readily available by the case for a low cost. As the bottle top incurrent use become scratched it can be replaced in minutes.d) The smoothly curved sides minimize eddies, providing minimal air passage time from base to tip of the chamber with minimal mixing between air currently entering and air that entered previously. This minimizes time required for accurate measurement of the plantΓÇÖs steady-state behavior.3. Screw-on cap for gas collection with positionable sensor probe-At the tip of the bottle, in place of the bottle cap, is a screw-on polycarbonate cap. It contains the efferent gas port. It also houses a probe that can be positioned with the cuvette closed and in use. At the distal internal tip of the probe is a thermocouple that can be positioned as needed to measure leaf temperature, and an articulating quantum flux sensor for measuring the photosynthetically active photon flux reaching the plant. The quantum flux sensor is hinged to allow placement perpendicular to the light source for an accurate measurement. The articulating probe is an allegedly novel feature of this cuvette.The invention holds the basal rosette as well as inflorescence (flowering stalk) of the plant; the inflorescence contributes up to 90% of the lifetime carbon gain for Arabidopsis. Unlike similar designs, it does not require that the plant to be measured be planted inside a hard plastic ring made by cutting the bottom from a micro-centrifuge tube which presumably (leaks) gasesAvailable for non-exclusive license

*Principal Investigation

Name: Kent Pruss

Department:

Name: Stephen Tonsor, Associate Professor

Department: Biological Sciences

國家/地區

美國