Tracking Metal Ions in Biology UsingX‐Ray Methods

Abstract

In this article, we describe the current state‐of‐play and potential future developments for a set of experimental methods that rely on X‐rays to probe metal ions in biological systems, especially X‐ray fluorescence imaging (XFI) and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), which are almost always performed at synchrotron light sources to give suitable sensitivity to biologically realistic concentrations of metal ions. We do not take a comprehensive viewpoint, but rather choose particular applications to illustrate where these methods shine, directly probing the native coordination environment where no other techniques can, providing a complementary picture to that provided by other methods, and acting as a vital sanity check on results derived from other less direct methods.

Spatially Resolved Localization of Lanthanum and Cerium in the Rare Earth Element Hyperaccumulator Fern Dicranopteris linearis from China

“…Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) is a nondestructive method that has been successfully used to study the in situ distribution of trace elements in numerous hyperaccumulator plants , and also in crop plants. , The aim of this study was to better understand the ecophysiological mechanisms that enable tolerance to high in vivo concentrations of REEs in this fern. To that end, XFM elemental images of the sum of two light REEs (e.g., the sum of La and Ce) and of K, Ca, and Mn inside various D.…”