Aphids

Plants transfer water and nutrients in the plant through the phloem, which is composed of sieve tube elements and sieve plates. If the sieve tube element is damaged the plant is at risk of losing all of the nutrients and water flowing through this. To combat this the plant secretes callose, which blocks the pores in the sieve plate and stops flow through the damaged sieve tube. This has made studying the phloem of a plant particularly difficult. Interestingly enough, and insect breed called aphids have evolved to be able to penetrate the sieve tube without triggering the secretion of callose. By blasting the aphid from the plant while leaving its extractor in place, we have been able to study the phloem of the plant in more depth than ever before.