Imaging element distribution and speciation in plant cells

•Cellular distributions of nutrients and toxic elements are highly heterogeneous.•Chemical speciation of elements is crucial to their cellular homeostasis.•New tools to probe cellular distributions and speciation of elements are reviewed.•New imaging tools can help reveal functions of genes in element homeostasis.

To maintain cellular homeostasis, concentrations, chemical speciation, and localization of mineral nutrients and toxic trace elements need to be regulated. Imaging the cellular and subcellular localization of elements and measuring their in situ chemical speciation are challenging tasks that can be undertaken using synchrotron-based techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence and X-ray absorption spectrometry, and mass spectrometry-based techniques, such as secondary ion mass spectrometry and laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. We review the advantages and limitations of these techniques, and discuss examples of their applications, which have revealed highly heterogeneous distribution patterns of elements in different cell types, often varying in chemical speciation. Combining these techniques with molecular genetic approaches can unravel functions of genes involved in element homeostasis.