Additional file 1: Movie showing rice leaf ablation. Rice leaf image with different vein orders before and after leaf ablation (top) and video showing the leaf ablation process (bottom). A drop of water was added onto a glass plate to prevent the dehydration while ablating the leaf. 1°: primary/mid vein; 2°: secondary/large lateral veins; 3°: tertiary/intermediate veins. Movie courtesy: Dr Satish Kumar Eeda. Additional file 2: Comparison of bundle cell width in paradermal versus transverse sections obtained from confocal laser scanning microscopy versus serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM), respectively. (a) Transverse section of a rice leaf obtained from serial block-face scanning electron microscopy, representing the bundle sheath cells of a tertiary vein (3°). Bundle sheath cell width was measured at the mid-point of the medio-lateral axes as annotated with a red arrow. (b) Comparison of bundle sheath cell width measurements from paradermal and transverse sections, obtained from confocal imaging (rice data from Fig. 3c) and serial block-face scanning electron microscopy, respectively. BS: Bundle sheath cell; M: Mesophyll cell. Blue dot in the violin plots represent mean values. Statistical test: t-test. Additional file 3: Comparison of individual chloroplast areas obtained from confocal laser scanning microscopy versus serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM). (a) Paradermal section of a rice leaf obtained from serial block-face scanning electron microscopy, representing the lateral bundle sheath cells of a tertiary vein (3°). Bundle sheath chloroplasts were pointed with red arrows. (b) Comparison of individual chloroplast areas from confocal (wild-type rice data from Fig. 4b) and two-dimensional serial block-face scanning electron microscopy imaging. BS: Bundle sheath cell; M: Mesophyll cell. Blue dot in the violin plots represent mean values. Statistical test: t-test.