Towards single-cell ionomics: a novel micro-scaled method for multi-element analysis of nanogram-sized biological samples

Table 3 Elemental distribution between seed coat and embryo of wild-type Arabidopsis seeds grown with and without added Zn

Element	Whole seed ng seed⁻¹		Seed coat ng seed⁻¹		Embryo ng seed⁻¹		Ratio Embryo/seed		Recovery %
Element	−Zn	+Zn	−Zn	+Zn	−Zn	+Zn	−Zn	+Zn	−Zn	+Zn
S	1752 ± 287	1624 ± 214	422 ± 179	408 ± 152	1149 ± 199	986 ± 265	2.7	2.4	90	86*
P	1631 ± 195	1636 ± 115	226 ± 44	206 ± 42	1251 ± 190	1229 ± 142	5.5	6.0	91	88*
K	1436 ± 175	1767 ± 363	309 ± 66	203 ± 47	652 ± 110	411 ± 96	2.1	2.0	67*	35*
Mg	570 ± 76	592 ± 47	76 ± 14	99 ± 15	441 ± 76	455 ± 58	5.8	4.6	91	85*
Fe	22 ± 1	16 ± 1	4 ± 1	3 ± 1	17 ± 2	12 ± 1	4.3	4.0	95*	95
Zn	16 ± 6	51 ± 3	4 ± 1	12 ± 2	11 ± 2	31 ± 4	2.8	2.6	89	91
Mn	13 ± 3	13 ± 1	4 ± 1	4 ± 1	8 ± 2	7 ± 2	2.0	1.8	90	90
B	1.9 ± 0.7	3.1 ± 0.54	1.6 ± 0.4	1.7 ± 0.5	1.0 ± 0.3	0.8 ± 0.4	0.6	0.5	135*	79*
Cu	1.3 ± 0.2	1.2 ± 0.2	0.8 ± 0.3	0.7 ± 0.2	0.7 ± 0.3	0.4 ± 0.1	0.9	0.6	119*	91
Mo	0.38 ± 0.04	0.27 ± 0.02	0.23 ± 0.06	0.12 ± 0.03	0.28 ± 0.04	0.16 ± 0.03	1.2	1.3	134	103

Analysis was done on batches of 10 whole seeds and 10 seeds separated into seed coat and embryo fractions. Data are expressed in ng of an element ± the standard deviation (n = 10). The recovery of the individual elements was calculated as the ratio between their summed quantity (ng Zn in seed coat plus ng Zn in embryo) divided by that in the whole seed. Data was tested with a one-way ANOVA t-test, and the asterisks indicate significant differences (*P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001) between the root tissue and the blank samples for each element (n = 10)

ISSN: 1746-4811