Plant-in-chip: Microfluidic system for studying root growth and pathogenic interactions in Arabidopsis

We report a microfluidic platform for the hydroponic growth of Arabidopsis plants with high-resolution visualization of root development and root-pathogen interactions. The platform comprises a set of parallel microchannels with individual input/output ports where 1-day old germinated seedlings are initially placed. Under optimum conditions, a root system grows in each microchannel and its images are recorded over a 198-h period. Different concentrations of plant growth media show different root growth characteristics. Later, the developed roots are inoculated with two plant pathogens (nematodes and zoospores) and their physicochemical interactions with the live root systems are observed. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3604788]