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

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