Investigation of seeds with high-resolution solid-state 13C NMR

Magic angle spinning (MAS) C-13 NMR was employed to investigate seeds. By combining single pulse excitation (SP) and cross-polarization (cr) experiments, we showed that both liquid and solid domains of plant seeds (Arabidopsis thaliana, Lactuca sativa and Pisum sativum) can be characterized. Sharp signals in the CP/MAS spectra of seeds were attributed to triacylglycerols (TAG) belonging to the mobile phase by the use of a non-quaternary suppression (NQS) experiment. Using the CP/MAS probe designed for solid-state NMR, we demonstrated that the liquid domain of seeds could be readily analyzed under MAS conditions with classical multi-pulse experiments normally devoted to liquid-phase NMR. Such a nondestructive approach should be useful to monitor the transformation of metabolites during physiological processes and the effects of chemical molecules on seeds and other similar biological systems. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.