Epidermal electronic-tattoo for plant immune response monitoring

Journal article

Real-time monitoring of plant immune responses is crucial for understanding plant immunity and mitigating economic losses from pathogen and pest attacks. However, current methods relying on molecular-level assessment are destructive and time-consuming. Here, we report an ultrathin, substrate-free, and highly conductive electronic tattoo (e-tattoo) designed for plants, enabling immune response monitoring through non-invasive electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The e-tattoo’s biocompatibility, high conductivity, and sub-100 nm thickness allow it to conform to leaf tissue morphology and provide robust impedance data. We demonstrate continuous EIS analysis of live transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants for over 24 h, capturing the onset of NLR-mediated acute immune responses within three hours post-induction, prior to visible symptoms. RNA-seq and tissue ion leakage tests validate that EIS data accurately represent the physiological and molecular changes associated with immune activation. This non-invasive tissue-assessment technology has the potential to enhance our comprehension of immune activation mechanisms in plants and paves the way for real-time monitoring for plant health management.

Authors: He, T; Wang, J; Hu, D; Yang, Y; Chae, E

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 1
• Article number: 3244
• Publication date: 2025-04-04
• Acceptance date: 2025-03-27
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58584-x
• EISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English