Time Gating of Chloroplast Autofluorescence Allows Clearer Fluorescence Imaging In Planta

Chloroplast, an organelle facilitating photosynthesis, exhibits strong autofluorescence, which is an undesired background signal that restricts imaging experiments with exogenous fluorophore in plants. In this study, the autofluorescence was characterized in planta under confocal laser microscopy, and it was found that the time-gated imaging technique completely eliminates the autofluorescence. As a demonstration of the technique, a clearer signal of fluorescent protein-tagged phototropin, a blue-light photoreceptor localized at the chloroplast periphery, was visualized in planta.