Monitoring Vascular Regeneration and Xylem Connectivity in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Abstract

Plants have a remarkable ability to regenerate vascular tissue after damage or wounding. A striking example of this phenomenon is the cutting and rejoining of plants during the process of grafting, which humans have used for millennia. Here, I describe how to graft Arabidopsis seedlings and how to monitor the vascular reconnection process during wound healing using fluorescent dyes and fluorescent proteins. Furthermore, I describe how to visualize xylem formation during graft healing. These techniques are useful for studying how the vascular system regenerates and for better understanding the process of plant grafting.