ACCUMULATION OF SALT AND PERMEABILITY IN PLANT CELLS

Abstract

1. Comparisons are made of concentrations of K and Br in exudates of barley roots and in expressed sap from roots, under conditions favorable for aerobic metabolism. Both methods lead to the same general viewpoint concerning metabolically governed transport of solutes by living plant cells. 2. Cyanide in low concentration prevented salt accumulation by barley roots. Methylene blue, without decrease of CO2 production by roots, destroyed power of salt accumulation. 3. K and Br ions entered roots to only a slight extent under an anaerobic condition, even with an inward gradient of ionic concentration. 4. Lactate or alcohol, under aerobic conditions, did not prevent rapid accumulation of salt by root cells. 5. Experiments on fluids obtained by suction from tomato roots gave evidence of loss of salt-accumulating power under the influence of N2 gas or CO2 gas, together with probable effects on cell permeability. 6. Several experiments on Nitella cells in which radioactive isotopes were used are reported. Bromide gradually moved into vacuolar sap until the concentration appeared to exceed that of the protoplasm, on the basis of the results of the several types of experiments. Accumulation of salt in the vacuole did not occur anaerobically. 7. Some views of interrelations of permeability, salt accumulation, and metabolism are suggested for further discussion.