New research from North Carolina State University shows a way to study cellular communication between different plant cells by "bioprinting" these cells with a 3D printer. Knowing more about how plant cells communicate with each other and their environment is essential to gaining a better understanding of plant cell functions, which will ultimately lead to better crop species and environments for proper growth.
The researchers bioprinted cells from Arabidopsis thaliana and the model plant soybean to investigate not only how long they survive after being bioprinted, but also how they acquire and change their identity and function.
"Plant roots have many types of cells," said NC State postdoctoral researcher Lisa Van den Broeck, first author of the work. "There are also different sets of genes that are expressed; some of them are cell-specific. We want to know what happens after you bioprint living cells and put them in your engineering environment. Are you doing that?"
The 3D bioprinting process from plant cells is mechanically similar to ink or plastic printing.
Instead of 3D printing ink or plastic, we use "bio-ink" or living plant cells. La mécanique est la même dans les deux processet avec quelques diférences squar pour les cellules vegétales: un filter ultraviolet utilisate pour maintenir l'ambionnement sterile et multipleis têtes d'impression - rather qu une dubious-seule impresseure. »
Lisa van den Broek, author of the premiere
Living plant cells without cell walls or protoplasts are loaded with nutrients, growth hormones and a thickening agent called agarose - a compound made from seaweed. L'agarose aide à fornir de la force aux cells et un échafaudage, semblable au mortier qui supporte les briques dans le mur d'un bâtiment.
"We found that using the right scaffold was very important," said Ross Sozzani, a professor of plant and microbial biology at NC State and co-author of the paper. "Bioin should be liquid when it is pushed, but when it comes out, it should be solid. Mimicking the natural environment helps to keep cell signals and signals on Earth."
Studies have shown that more than half of 3D bioprinted cells are viable and divide au fil du temps to form microcages or small cell colonies.
"We expected good viability the day the cells were bioprinted, but we didn't place the cells for a few hours after bioprinting, so we don't know what will happen after a few days," van den Breek said. "The same application problems arise after cells are harvested by hand, so the 3D printing process does not appear to be harmful to cells."
"Il s'agit d'un processus manualment difficile, et la bio-impression 3D controls the pressure of the goutelettes," said Sozzani. "Bioprinting offers a better opportunity to manipulate cell architecture and have greater control over it, once it forms sheet or honeycomb shapes."
Les chercheurs égamente bio-imprimé des cellules individuelles pour tester si elles pouvatien se générer, ou se visiser et se multiplier. The results show that Arabidopsis root and shoot cells require different combinations of nutrients and scaffolds for optimal viability.
At the same time, more than 40% of the soybean embryo cells were viable after two weeks of bioprinting and formed microcalynes.
"This shows that 3D bioprinting can be useful for studying cell regeneration in agricultural plants," Sozani said.
Finally, the researchers studied the cellular identity of the bioprinted cells. Arabidopsis root cells and soybean germ cells are known for their high rate of proliferation and lack of fixed identities. In other words, like animal or human stem cells, these cells can be different types of cells.
"We discovered that bioprinted cells can take on the identity of stem cells; they divide, grow, and express specific genes,” van den Broeck said. "In bioprinting, you print all cell types. "We were able to look at the genes expressed by individual cells after 3D bioprinting to understand any changes in cell identity."
Les chercheurs prévoient de puisseur leurs travaux en étudiant la cellular communication for 3D bioimpression, which includes a au niveau de la specialized cells.
"However, this study demonstrates the strong potential of using 3D bioprinting to identify the optimal compounds needed to support plant cells and communication in a controlled environment," said Sozani.
Source:
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Van den Broek, L. , etc. (2022) Development of a reproducible approach to study cellular functions of plant cells by 3D bioprinting. Scientific progress. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abp9906.
