Light microscopy of whole plant organs

Plants are ideal organisms for light microscopical studies of cellular mechanisms controlling cell organisation and cell functioning. However, most plant organs are not transparent to light which prevents high resolution imaging deep within plant tissues. Classically, access into plant organs is achieved by sectioning or whole-mount tissue clearing. Until recently, the protocols for clearing destroyed the signal from fluorescent markers which prevented the imaging of the distribution of fluorescent proteins and the three-dimensional reconstruction from optical slices of whole plant organs. From 2011, a number of protocols have been developed for whole brain and whole organism imaging for animal studies. Now, these protocols have been adapted for in-depth imaging of whole plant organs. Here, I present an overview of clearing techniques of plant organs and highlight the latest developments of plant tissue clearing in combination with high resolution fluorescence microscopy.