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Summary Plant Physiology H2: Transport in plants (I0Q19C)

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Master of Bioscience Engineering: Cellular and Genetic Engineering. Summary of chapter 2 of the course Plant physiology (I0Q19C) given at KU Leuven.

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Samenvatting Plant physiology H2: Transport in plants
Introduction:
 First leave of a seed = cotyl
 Staimen = male reproduction, pistil = female reproduction
 Speed vs distance
o From tip to base, a high
number of cells traversed
while there isn’t much
distance covered
o From base to tip, the
comparison is the same,
but the difference
between distance and
speed is smaller
 Slide 6
 Intracellular transport
o Very short distance, within 1 cell
o Cytoplasmic streaming = movement of large organelles such as chloroplasts
and mitochondria which is facilitated by the cytoskeleton
o Occurs mainly in cells with large vacuoles
o E.g. Elodea (removes N)
 Intercellular transport
o Short distance, between cells
o Apoplast = through cell walls & death xylem vessels  not controlled
o Symplast = through interconnected cytoplasm via plasmodesmata (open canal
in membrane connecting cytoplasm of 2 cells)  semi controlled
o Transcellular transport = through cell wall, cell membrane & tonoplast
multiple times via specific channels  controlled
o Plasmodesmata allows transport of water, solutes
(ions), small mol & prot and RNA
o ER  produces vesicles who transport prot,… .
o Desmotubule = ER connection through the
plasmodesmata, like the cytosol
o Central rod = inner ER in the desmotubule
o The number of plasmodesmata can regulate symplastic
transport  it can be closed by callose (Ca containing
matrix) which can be induced by SA

, o Protein transport via plasmodesmata  Chaperones, myosin/actin, exocytosis
(= from cell to organel) fig. slide 18
o Ion transport via plasmodesmata  Membrane transporters like H+ pumps do
this and create membrane potentials (difference electric pot over membrane
or between 2 cells) like that
 H+ pump  against gradient using ATP
 K+ pump  Passive transport along gradient
Membrane potential Mimosa pudica! Much faster (protection)
o More plasmodesmata -> more electric potential -> more signal (Azolla!)
o Viral RNA transport via plasmodesmata (and phloem)  use of movement &
coat proteins, vaccines don’t work in plants because they don’t make
antibodies
o Cytoskeleton also goes through plasmodesmata which its why the channels
can have different shapes (could lead to blockages)
o No plasmodesmata are present between maternal
tissue and the embryo (only apoplastic transport
possible) to avoid viruses being transferred to the
next generation
 Xylem & phloem transport from source to sink
o Long distance, between tissues & organs
o Xylem = Upward transport of water & minerals and
passive transport by transpiration
o Phloem = Bidirectional movement of water, solutes & assimilates and active
transport by ATP
o Part of vascular plants, it is developed by
cambium
o Girdling = Cut away the phloem, xylem is exposed
and stays functional so water can be transported
but nutrients can’t  trees will die, beavers use
this technique as well to then flood an area so
those trees will drown and die
o There are symplast-apoplast discontinuities of xylem and phloem like the
endodermis that has (almost) no apoplastic transport

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