IN VIVO ASSAY TO MONITOR FLAVONOID UPTAKE ACROSS PLANT CELL MEMBRANES

Flavonoids represent one of the most important molecules of plant secondary metabolism, playing a plenty of different biochemical and physiological roles. Although their essential role in plant life and human health has been elucidated by many studies, their subcellular transport and accumulation in plant tissues still remain unclear, because of the absence of a convenient and simple method to monitor their transport. In the present work, we suggest an assay able to follow in vivo the transport of quercetin, the most abundant flavonoid in plant tissues. This uptake was monitored by using 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (DPBA), as fluorescent probe, in non-pigmented Vitis vinifera cell cultures.