Transport in Plants
Question 1. What are the factors affecting the rate of diffusion?
Answer: Factors affecting the rate of diffusion:
1. Gradient of Concentration
2. Permeability of membrane
3. Temperature
4. Pressure
Question 2. What are porins? What role do they play in diffusion?
Answer: The porins are proteins that form huge pores in the outer membranes of the plastids, mitochondria and some bacteria allowing molecules up to the size of small proteins to pass through. Thus porins facilitate diffusion.
Question 3. Describe the role played by protein pumps during active transport in plants.
Answer: Active transport uses energy to pump molecules against a concentration gradient. Active transport is carried out by membrane-proteins. Hence different proteins in the membrane play a major role in both active as well as passive transport. Pumps are proteins that use energy to carry substances across the cell membrane. These pumps can transport substances from a low concentration to a high concentration (‘uphill’ transport). Transport rate reaches a maximum when all the protein transporters are being used or are saturated. Like enzymes the carrier protein is very specific in what it carries across the membrane. These proteins are sensitive to inhibitors that react with protein side chains.
Question 4. Explain why pure water has the maximum water potential.
Answer: Water molecules possess kinetic energy. In liquid and gaseous form they are in random motion that is both rapid and constant. The greater the concentration of water in a system, the greater is its kinetic energy or ‘water potential’. Hence, it is obvious that pure water will have the greatest water potential. If two systems containing water are in contact, random movement of water molecules will result in net movement of water molecules from the system with higher energy to the one with lower energy. Thus water will move from the system containing water at higher water potential to the one having low water potential. This process of movement of substances down a gradient of free energy is called diffusion. Water potential is denoted by the Greek symbol Psi or Ψ and is expressed in pressure units such as pascals (Pa). By convention, the water potential of pure water at standard temperatures, which is not under any pressure, is taken to be zero.
Question 5. Differentiate between the following:
(a) Diffusion and Osmosis
(b) Transpiration and Evaporation
(c) Osmotic Pressure and Osmotic Potential
(d) Imbibition and Diffusion
(e) Apoplast and Symplast pathways of movement of water in plants.
(f) Guttation and Transpiration.
Answer:
(a) Diffusion and Osmosis: Diffusion is a form of passive transport which takes place anywhere and the flow happens from high concentration to low concentration. Osmosis happens across a semi-permeable membrane. For diffusion semi-permeable membrane is not a precondition.
(b) Transpiration and Evaporation: Transpiration is the evaporation of water from the aerial parts of plants, especially leaves but also stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings called stoma that are bordered by guard cells. Collectively the structures are called stomata. Leaf transpiration occurs through stomata, and can be thought of as a necessary "cost" associated with the opening of the stomata to allow the diffusion of carbon dioxide gas from the air for photosynthesis. Transpiration also cools plants and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients and water from roots to shoots.
(c) Osmotic Pressure and Osmotic Potential: The Osmotic Potential
Many people are not used to the concept of osmotic pressure, since it is not a pressure one can feel with the finger or measure with a simple barometer. Again, osmosis needs a semi-permeable membrane. For that reason the term osmotic potential is widely used. The osmotic potential is defined as the capability of a solution to suck water in if it was separated from another solution by a semi-permeable membrane. For some weird reason it is always a negative number. So, the higher the negative number (the smaller the number, or the more negative) of the osmotic potential of a solution, the more it will suck water in, or the more concentrated it will be.
The terms isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic describe the difference in osmotic pressure between two solutions with a certain osmotic potential. Two solutions are isotonic when the osmotic potentials are equal. When they are different, the one with the higher (read: less negative) potential will be hypotonic (less pressure) and the one with the lower potential (higher number or more negative) will be hypertonic (more pressure).
(d) Imbibition and Diffusion: Imbibition is a special type of diffusion when water is absorbed by solids – colloids – causing them to enormously increase in volume. The classical examples of imbibition are absorption of water by seeds and dry wood. Imbibition is also diffusion since water movement is along a concentration gradient; the seeds and other such materials have almost no water hence they absorb water easily. Water potential gradient between the absorbent and the liquid imbibed is essential for imbibition. In addition, for any substance to imbibe any liquid, affinity between the adsorbant and the liquid is also a pre-requisite.
(e) Apoplast and Symplast pathways of movement of water in plants.
Within a plant, the apoplast is the free diffusional space outside the plasma membrane. It is interrupted by the Casparian strip in roots, air spaces between plant cells and the cuticula of the plant.
Structurally, the apoplast is formed by the continuum of cell walls of adjacent cells as well as the extracellular spaces, forming a tissue level compartment comparable to the symplast. The apoplastic route facilitates the transport of water and solutes across a tissue or organ. This process is known as apoplastic transport.
The symplast of a plant is the inner side of the plasma membrane in which water (and low-molecular solutes) can freely diffuse.
The plasmodesmata allow the direct flow of small molecules such as sugars, amino acids, and ions between cells. Larger molecules, including transcription factors and plant viruses, can also be transported through with the help of actin structures.
This allows direct cytoplasm to cytoplasm flow of water and other nutrients along concentration gradients. In particular, it is used in the root systems to bring in nutrients from soil. It moves these solutes from epidermis cells through the cortex into the endodermis and eventually the pericycle, where it can be moved into the xylem for long distance transport. It is contrasted with the apoplastic flow, which uses cell wall transport.
(f) Guttation and Transpiration: Guttation is the appearance of drops of xylem sap on the tips or edges of leaves of some vascular plants, such as grasses. Guttation is not to be confused with dew, which condenses from the atmosphere onto the plant surface.
Process
At night, transpiration usually does not occur because most plants have their stomata closed. When there is a high soil moisture level, water will enter plant roots, because the water potential of the roots is lower than in the soil solution. The water will accumulate in the plant, creating a slight root pressure. The root pressure forces some water to exude through special leaf tip or edge structures, hydathodes, forming drops. Root pressure provides the impetus for this flow, rather than transpirational pull.
Transpiration on the other hand happens because of transpiration pull.
Question 6. Briefly describe water potential. What are the factors affecting it?
Answer: Water potential is the potential energy of water relative to pure free water (e.g. deionized water) in reference conditions. It quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure, or matrix effects including surface tension. Water potential is measured in units of pressure and is commonly represented by the Greek letter Ψ (Psi). This concept has proved especially useful in understanding water movement within plants, animals, and soil.
Typically, pure water at standard temperature and pressure (or other suitable reference condition) is defined as having a water potential of 0. The addition of solutes to water lowers its potential (makes it more negative), just as the increase in pressure increases its potential (makes it more positive). If possible, water will move from an area of higher water potential to an area that has a lower water potential.
One very common example is water that contains a dissolved salt, like sea water or the solution within living cells. These solutions typically have negative water potentials, relative to the pure water reference. If there is no restriction on flow, water molecules will proceed from the locus of pure water to the more negative water potential of the solution.
Water potential of a cell is affected by both solute and pressure potential. The relationship between them is as follows:
Ψw = ψs + ψp
Question 7. (a) With the help of well-labelled diagrams, describe the process of plasmolysis in plants, giving appropriate examples.
(b) Explain what will happen to a plant cell if it is kept in a solution having higher water potential.
Answer: If a plant cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, the plant cell loses water and hence turgor pressure, making the plant cell flaccid. Plants with cells in this condition wilt. Further water loss causes plasmolysis: pressure decreases to the point where the protoplasm of the cell peels away from the cell wall, leaving gaps between the cell wall and the membrane. Eventually cytorrhysis – the complete collapse of the cell wall – can occur. There are some mechanisms in plants to prevent excess water loss in the same way as excess water gain, but plasmolysis can be reversed if the cell is placed in a weaker solution (hypotonic solution). Stomata help keep water in the plant so it does not dry out. Wax also keeps water in the plant. The equivalent process in animal cells is called crenation.
The liquid content of the cell leaks out due to diffusion. The cell collapse and cell membrane pulls away from the cell wall(in plants). Most animal cells consist of only a phospholipid bilayer and not a cell wall, therefore shrinking up under such conditions.
Plasmolysis only occurs in extreme conditions and rarely happens in nature. It is induced in the laboratory by immersing cells in strong saline or sugar solutions to cause exosmosis, often using Elodea plants or onion epidermal cells, which have coloured cell sap so that the process is clearly visible.
Plasmolysis can be of two types. It can be either concave plasmolysis or convex plasmolysis. Convex plasmolysis is always irreversible while concave plasmolysis is usually reversible.
Question 8. How is the mycorrhizal association helpful in absorption of water and minerals in plants?
Answer: Some plants have additional structures associated with them that help in water (and mineral) absorption. A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association of a fungus with a root system. The fungal filaments form a network around the young root or they penetrate the root cells. The hyphae have a very large surface area that absorb mineral ions and water from the soil from a much larger volume of soil that perhaps a root cannot do. The fungus provides minerals and water to the roots, in turn the roots provide sugars and N-containing compounds to the mycorrhizae. Some plants have an obligate association with the mycorrhizae. For example, Pinus seeds cannot germinate and establish without the presence of mycorrhizae.
Question 9. What role does root pressure play in water movement in plants?
Answer: As various ions from the soil are actively transported into the vascular tissues of the roots, water follows (its potential gradient) and increases the pressure inside the xylem. This positive pressure is called root pressure, and can be responsible for pushing up water to small heights in the stem.
Root pressure can, at best, only provide a modest push in the overall process of water transport. They obviously do not play a major role in water movement up tall trees. The greatest contribution of root pressure may be to re-establish the continuous chains of water molecules in the xylem which often break under the enormous tensions created by transpiration. Root pressure does not account for the majority of water transport; most plants meet their need by transpiratory pull.
Question 10. Describe transpiration pull model of water transport in plants. What are the factors influencing transpiration? How is it useful to plants?
Answer: Transpiration is the evaporative loss of water by plants. It occurs mainly through the stomata in the leaves. Besides the loss of water vapour in transpiration, exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the leaf also occurs through pores called stomata (sing. : stoma). Normally stomata are open in the day time and close during the night. The immediate cause of the opening or closing of the stomata is a change in the turgidity of the guard cells. The inner wall of each guard cell, towards the pore or stomatal aperture, is thick and elastic. When turgidity increases within the two guard cells flanking each stomatal aperture or pore, the thin outer walls bulge out and force the inner walls into a crescent shape. The opening of the stoma is also aided due to the orientation of the microfibrils in the cell walls of the guard cells. Cellulose microfibrils are oriented radially rather than longitudinally making it easier for the stoma to open. When the guard cells lose turgor, due to water loss (or water stress) the elastic inner walls regain their original shape, the guard cells become flaccid and the stoma closes.
Factors Affecting Transpiration: Temperature, light, humidity, wind speed.
As water evaporates through the stomata, since the thin film of water over the cells is continuous, it results in pulling of water, molecule by molecule, into the leaf from the xylem. Also, because of lower concentration of water vapour in the atmosphere as compared to the substomatal cavity and intercellular spaces, water diffuses into the surrounding air. This creates a ‘pull’
Importance of Transpiration: Transport of liquids and minerals is facilitated because of transpiration.
Question 11. Discuss the factors responsible for ascent of xylem sap in plants.
Answer: The transpiration driven ascent of xylem sap depends mainly on the following physical properties of water:
• Cohesion – mutual attraction between water molecules.
• Adhesion – attraction of water molecules to polar surfaces (such as the surface of tracheary elements).
• Surface Tension – water molecules are attracted to each other in the liquid phase more than to water in the gas phase.
These properties give water high tensile strength, i.e., an ability to resist a pulling force, and high capillarity, i.e., the ability to rise in thin tubes. In plants capillarity is aided by the small diameter of the tracheary elements – the tracheids and vessel elements.
Question 12. What essential role does the root endodermis play during mineral absorption in plants?
Answer: Unlike water, all minerals cannot be passively absorbed by the roots. Two factors account for this:
(i) minerals are present in the soil as charged particles (ions) which cannot move across cell membranes and
(ii) the concentration of minerals in the soil is usually lower than the concentration of minerals in the root.
Therefore, most minerals must enter the root by active absorption into the cytoplasm of epidermal cells. This needs energy in the form of ATP. The active uptake of ions is partly responsible for the water potential gradient in roots, and therefore for the uptake of water by osmosis. Some ions also move into the epidermal cells passively. Ions are absorbed from the soil by both passive and active transport. Specific proteins in the membranes of root hair cells actively pump ions from the soil into the cytoplasms of the epidermal cells. Like all cells, the endodermal cells have many transport proteins embedded in their plasma membrane; they let some solutes cross the membrane, but not others. Transport proteins of endodermal cells are control points, where a plant adjusts the quantity and types of solutes that reach the xylem. It is important to note that the root endodermis because of the layer of suberin has the ability to actively transport ions in one direction only.
Question 13. Explain why xylem transport is unidirectional and phloem transport bi-directional.
Answer: Food, primarily sucrose, is transported by the vascular tissue phloem from a source to a sink. Usually the source is understood to be that part of the plant which synthesises the food, i.e., the leaf, and sink, the part that needs or stores the food. But, the source and sink may be reversed depending on the season, or the plant’s needs. Sugar stored in roots may be mobilised to become a source of food in the early spring when the buds of trees, act as sink; they need energy for growth and development of the photosynthetic apparatus. Since the source-sink relationship is variable, the direction of movement in the phloem can be upwards or downwards, i.e., bi-directional. This contrasts with that of the xylem where the movement is always unidirectional, i.e., upwards. Hence, unlike one-way flow of water in transpiration, food in phloem sap can be transported in any required direction so long as there is a source of sugar and a sink able to use, store or remove the sugar.
Question 14. Explain pressure flow hypothesis of translocation of sugars in plants.
Answer: The Pressure Flow or Mass Flow Hypothesis
The accepted mechanism used for the translocation of sugars from source to sink is called the pressure flow hypothesis. As glucose is prepared at the source (by photosynthesis) it is converted to sucrose (a dissacharide). The sugar is then moved in the form of sucrose into the companion cells and then into the living phloem sieve tube cells by active transport. This process of loading at the source produces a hypertonic condition in the phloem. Water in the adjacent xylem moves into the phloem by osmosis. As osmotic pressure builds up the phloem sap will move to areas of lower pressure. At the sink osmotic pressure must be reduced. Again active transport is necessary to move the sucrose out of the phloem sap and into the cells which will use the sugar – converting it into energy, starch, or cellulose. As sugars are removed, the osmotic pressure decreases and water moves out of the phloem.
Phloem tissue is composed of sieve tube cells, which form long columns with holes in their end walls called sieve plates. Cytoplasmic strands pass through the holes in the sieve plates, so forming continuous filaments. As hydrostatic pressure in the phloem sieve tube increases, pressure flow begins, and the sap moves through the phloem. Meanwhile, at the sink, incoming sugars are actively transported out of the phloem and removed as complex carbohydrates. The loss of solute produces a high water potential in the phloem, and water passes out, returning eventually to xylem.
A simple experiment, called girdling, was used to identify the tissues through which food is transported. On the trunk of a tree a ring of bark up to a depth of the phloem layer, can be carefully removed. In the absence of downward movement of food the portion of the bark above the ring on the stem becomes swollen after a few weeks. This simple experiment shows that phloem is the tissue responsible for translocation of food; and that transport takes place in one direction, i.e., towards the roots. This experiment can be performed by you easily.
|