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At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Carbon Dioxide Fixation in Soybean Roots and Nodules: I. CHARACTERIZATION AND COMPARISON WITH N(2) FIXATION AND COMPOSITION OF XYLEM EXUDATE DURING EARLY NODULE DEVELOPMENT.

These studies demonstrate that soybean (Merr) roots and nodules possess an active system for fixing CO(2). The maximum rates of CO(2) fixation observed for roots and nodules of intact plants were 120 and 110 nanomoles CO(2) fixed per milligram dry weight per hour, respectively. Results of labeling studies suggest a primary role for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in CO(2) assimilation in these tissues. After pulse-labeling with (14)CO(2) for 2 minutes, 70% of the total radioactivity was lost within 18 minutes via respiration and/or translocation out of nodules. During the vegetative stages of growth of soybeans grown symbiotically, CO(2) fixation in nodules increased at the onset of N(2) fixation but declined to a lower level prior to the decrease in N(2) fixation. This decrease coincided with a decrease in the transport of amino acids, especially asparagine, and an increase in the export of ureides. These findings are consistent with a dual role for CO(2) fixation, providing substrates for energy-yielding metabolism and supplying carbon skeletons for NH(4) (+) assimilation and amino acid biosynthesis.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1987

A requirement for sucrose in xylem sap flow from dormant maple trees.

The response of excised stem segments of several tree species to freezing and thawing cycles was studied. All species studied (Thuja occidentalis, Fagus grandifolia, and Betula papyrifera) except maple (Acer spp.) exuded sap while freezing and absorbed on thawing. Maple stems absorbed sap while freezing and exuded sap during the thaw only when sucrose was present in the vessel solution. Increased concentration of sucrose in the vessel sap led to increased exudation. In the absence of sucrose, maple stems absorbed sap on thawing. The presence of sucrose enhanced sap absorption during freezing cycles in maples. In general, large sugars, disaccharides and larger, could substitute for sucrose in the maple exudation response while sugar hexoses could not. The results are discussed in relation to the O'Malley-Milburn model (1983 Can J Bot 61: 3100-3106) of sap flow in maples.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Mechanical reinforcement of tracheids compromises the hydraulic efficiency of conifer xylem.

Wood structure and function of juvenile wood from 18 conifer species from four conifer families (Araucariaceae, Cupressaceae, Pinaceae and Podocarpaceae) were examined for a trade-off between wood reinforcement and hydraulic efficiency. Wood density and tracheid 'thickness-to-span' ratio were used as anatomical proxies for mechanical properties. The thickness:span represented the ratio of tracheid double wall thickness to lumen diameter. Hydraulic resistivity (R) of tracheids on a cross-sectional area basis (RCA) increased over 50-fold with increasing density and thickness:span, implying a strength versus efficiency conflict. The conflict arose because density and thickness:span were increased by narrowing tracheid diameter rather than by thickening walls, which may be developmentally difficult. In the Pinaceae and Cupressaceae species, density and thickness:span correlated strongly with protection from drought-induced embolism, suggesting that mechanical strength was required in part to withstand tracheid collapse by negative sap pressure. These species showed a corresponding trade-off between increasing RCA and embolism protection. In contrast, species of Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae were overbuilt for their embolism protection and were hydraulically inefficient, having greater density, thickness:span and RCA, none of which were correlated with vulnerability to embolism.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed2006

In situ probing of Xylella fastidiosa in honeydew of a xylem sap-feeding insect using 16S rRNA-targeted fluorescent oligonucleotides.

Xylella fastidiosa is a plant pathogen that threatens a US$ 4.6 billion worldwide wine and citrus industry. Monitoring its presence and distribution in plants and vectors is crucial for designing control strategies, as well as for understanding its ecological role and fate. We developed two fluorescent oligonucleotide probes complementary to different regions of the 16S rRNA gene of X. fastidiosa. The specificity of the newly designed probes S-S-X.fas-0067-a-A-18 and S-S-X.fas-1439-a-A-18 was demonstrated using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for 12 Xylella isolates, 15 closely related microorganisms and three plant endophytes. These probes were used to detect and quantify X. fastidiosa in plant sap (average value of 2.9 +/- 0.3 x 10(6) cells ml(-1)) from three different citrus orchards. In a second experiment, cells were quantified in honeydew (2.2 +/- 0.2 x 10(4) cells ml(-1)) collected from the insect vector Bucephalogonia xanthophis during the acquisition access period on an infected plant. The number of pathogen cells retained or digested by the insect is 10,000 times greater than the estimated minimum value to ensure an efficient transmission. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using specific primers with plant sap and honeydew samples, followed by sequencing, confirmed the presence of the plant pathogen. This is the first demonstration of FISH being used for environmental samples, such as plant sap and insect honeydew, to estimate the abundance of a plant pathogen during infection.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Carbon balance in leaves of young poplar trees.

In the present study, important components of carbon metabolism of mature leaves of young poplar trees (Populus x canescens) were determined. Carbohydrate concentrations in leaves and xylem sap were quantified at five different times during the day and compared with photosynthetic gas exchange measurements (net assimilation, transpiration and rates of isoprene emission). Continuously measured xylem sap flow rates, with a time resolution of 15 min, were used to calculate diurnal balances of carbon metabolism of whole mature poplar leaves on different days. Loss of photosynthetically fixed carbon by isoprene emission and dark respiration amounted to 1% and 20%. The most abundant soluble carbohydrates in leaves and xylem sap were glucose, fructose and sucrose, with amounts of approx. 2 to 12 mmol m(-2) leaf area in leaves and about 0.2 to 15 mM in xylem sap. Clear diurnal patterns of carbohydrate concentration in xylem sap and leaves, however, were not observed. Calculations of the carbon transport rates in the xylem to the leaves were based on carbohydrate concentrations in xylem sap and xylem sap flow rates. This carbon delivery amounted to about 3 micromol C m(-2) s(-1) during the day and approx. 1 micromol C m(-2) s(-1) at night. The data demonstrated that between 9 and 28 % of total carbon delivered to poplar leaves during 24 h resulted from xylem transport and, hence, provide a strong indication for a significant rate of carbon cycling within young trees.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed2000

Compressive/Tensile Stresses and Lignified Cells as Resistance Components in Joints between Cladodes of Opuntia laevis (Cactaceae).

The Cactaceae are a diverse group of plants with a wide variety of morphologies. Many species of Opuntia have segmented stems in which terminal cladodes may be separated from main-stem cladodes with varying amounts of resistance. From a geometric approach, derivations were used to calculate normal (axial and bending) and shear (transverse force and torque) stresses at joints due to the weight of the cladodes. Normal and shear stresses act perpendicular and parallel to (along) the cross sections of joints, respectively. Normal stress caused by bending was >10 times that of the mean value of any other stress. Analyses were performed to determine the relationship between maximum normal stress and the amount of lignified xylem cells. Such cells had thicker cell walls compared with the various other cells of stem joints that had thin cell walls and that thus would provide the most resistance to normal stresses. An analogy was made between cactus joints and a composite beam with reinforcing rods. In such joints, thin-walled parenchyma cells might be analogous to concrete that has little resistance to tensile stress, while the thick-walled, lignified xylem cells would be analogous to reinforcing rods. There were statistically significant relationships between normal stresses (from bending and axial loads) and mean percentage of lignified xylem cells (r=0.73) and between normal stresses and total areas of lignified xylem cells (r=0.65) (more stress, more reinforcing xylem cells). Tensile portions of cactus joints had 23% lignified xylem cells, while compressive portions had only 10% lignified xylem cells in joint areas (more tension, more reinforcing xylem cells). In addition, tensile joint tissues had two to three times more thick-walled, lignified xylem cells in the outer 30% of the radius compared with other joint tissues types (more reinforcing near the surface). To our knowledge, this is the first publication to present mechanical stresses at stem joints of cacti and the first to relate these stresses to characteristics of resisting tissues in the joints of a cactus.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Radial variation in sap flow in five laurel forest tree species in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Variations in radial patterns of xylem water content and sap flow rate were measured in five laurel forest tree species (Laurus azorica (Seub.) Franco, Persea indica (L.) Spreng., Myrica faya Ait., Erica arborea L. and Ilex perado Ait. ssp. platyphylla (Webb & Berth.) Tutin) growing in an experimental plot at Agua García, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Measurements were performed around midday during warm and sunny days by the heat field deformation method. In all species, water content was almost constant (around 35% by volume) over the whole xylem cross-sectional area. There were no differences in wood color over the whole cross-sectional area of the stem in most species with the exception of E. arborea, whose wood became darker in the inner layers. Radial patterns of sap flow were highly variable and did not show clear relationships with tree diameter or species. Sap flow occurred over the whole xylem cross-sectional area in some species, whereas it was limited to the outer xylem layers in others. Sap flow rate was either similar along the xylem radius or exhibited a peak in the outer part of the xylem area. Low sap flow rates with little variation in radial pattern were typical for shaded suppressed trees, whereas dominant trees exhibited high sap flow rates with a peak in the radial pattern. Stem damage resulted in a significant decrease in sap flow rate in the outer xylem layers. The outer xylem is more important for whole tree water supply than the inner xylem because of its larger size. We conclude that measurement of radial flow pattern provides a reliable method of integrating sap flow from individual measuring points to the whole tree.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1981

Partitioning of carbon and nitrogen and the nutrition of root and shoot apex in a nodulated legume.

Empirically based models depicting exchanges of C, N, and H(2)O in phloem and xylem among organs of nodulated white lupin (Lupinus albus cv Ultra) were constructed for the interval 51 to 58 days after sowing. Information was incorporated on the economy of C, N, and H(2)O in plant parts, the solute composition of transport fluids collected at selected sites on the plant, and the photosynthetic inputs, transpirational losses, and translocatory activities of different age groups of leaflets and stem + petiole segments of the shoot. Partitioning of C and N showed preferential transfer of N to the shoot apex, which imported 13 milligrams C per milligram N, compared with 54 milligrams C per milligram N for the nodulated root. Leaves translocated assimilates at a C:N weight ratio of 43 to 59, and older leaves serving the roots produced the translocate most rich in N relative to C. The shoot apex was enriched with N, additional to its intake from leaves, by direct uptake of xylem fluid (C:N ratio, 2.4) and receipt of nitrogenous solutes transferred from xylem to upward-moving phloem streams in upper regions of the stem. The models for flow of N and H(2)O indicated that xylem streams passing to leaves were substantially less rich in N than the adjacent stream moving through the body of the stem and that a progressive increase in concentration of N occurred within stem xylem elements from base to top of the shoot. This apparently resulted from an abstraction of N from xylem of departing leaf traces, possibly by xylem transfer cells, and a subsequent feedback of this N to xylem streams passing on up the shoot. Upper leaves and shoot apex, therefore, acquired more N from xylem per unit of H(2)O transpired than lower parts of the shoot.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Photosynthetic pathway alters hydraulic structure and function in woody plants.

Xylem structure and function is proposed to reflect an evolutionary balance between demands for efficient movement of water to the leaf canopy and resistance to cavitation during high xylem tension. Water use efficiency (WUE) affects this balance by altering the water cost of photosynthesis. Therefore species of greater WUE, such as C(4) plants, should have altered xylem properties. To evaluate this hypothesis, we assessed the hydraulic and anatomical properties of 19 C(3) and C(4) woody species from arid regions of the American west and central Asia. Specific conductivity of stem xylem ( K(s) ) was 16%-98% lower in the C(4) than C(3) shrubs from the American west. In the Asian species, the C(3) Nitraria schoberi had similar and Halimodendron halodendron higher K(s) values compared with three C(4) species. Leaf specific conductivity ( K(L); hydraulic conductivity per leaf area) was 60%-98% lower in the C(4) than C(3) species, demonstrating that the presence of the C(4) pathway alters the relationship between leaf area and the ability of the xylem to transport water. C(4) species produced similar or smaller vessels than the C(3) shrubs except in Calligonum, and most C(4) shrubs exhibited higher wood densities than the C(3) species. Together, smaller conduit size and higher wood density indicate that in most cases, the C(4) shrubs exploited higher WUE by altering xylem structure to enhance safety from cavitation. In a minority of cases, the C(4) shrubs maintained similar xylem properties but enhanced the canopy area per branch. By establishing a link between C(4) photosynthesis and xylem structure, this study indicates that other phenomena that affect WUE, such as atmospheric CO(2) variation, may also affect the evolution of wood structure and function.

Carbon Dioxide↗