Ion distribution in cereal leaves: pathways and mechanisms

Abstract

Measurement of ion concentrations in the vacuoles of different cell types in cereal leaves using a variety of techniques indicates that ions are differentially distributed between different cell types. Thus mesophyll cells are enriched in P but contain relatively little Ca 2+ or Cl - , whereas the reverse is true for epidermal cells. Solutes reach the leaf via the transpiration stream and we consider three possible pathways which they could follow from the xylem to leaf cells. The first is a fully apoplastic mesophyll pathway in which both water and solutes move together through the leaf apoplast passing bundle sheath, mesophyll and epidermis in turn. The second is a partly symplastic mesophyll pathway in which ions and water pass into the symplast at the mestome/bundle sheath cells. Water continues to sites of evaporation via either a transcellular or symplastic pathway, but ions may be secreted back to the mesophyll apoplast and move to the epidermis along an extracellular route. The third is a vein extension pathway which provides a diffusional pathway for ions to the epidermis. A testable hypothesis for the roles of the pathways in supplying solutes to the mesophyll and epidermis is proposed and the implications of each of these pathways for transport systems in individual cell types is discussed.