Biologia plantarum 2012, 56:749-756 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-012-0121-3

Visualisation of xylem sap flow direction in isolated fine lateral roots and estimation of the xylem sap osmotic potential

M. Fritz1, R. Ehwald1,*
1 AG Zellbiologie, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Xylem sap outflow from fine lateral roots (FLRs) isolated from hydroponically grown young maize (Zea mays L.) plants was visualized by local brightening of test solutions contrasted with purified Indian ink particles. Flow into the vessels was indicated by the adsorption of Evans Blue in their walls. The fraction of the FLRs able to exude xylem sap in a mineral medium with 30 mM mannitol decreased with increasing incubation time. This change was strongly retarded, when the FLRs were incubated in a medium containing glucose instead of mannitol. There was a broad range of variation of the osmotic potential of the test solutions (Ψso), wherein the fraction of the FLRs showing an initially reversed flow of the xylem sap varied between zero and unity. A median (M) of the osmotic potential of the xylem sap in FLRs (Ψsx) was estimated. It represents the value of Ψso that was lower than Ψsx in half of the roots of a sample before their transfer to the test solutions (Ψsxo). M was dependent on the osmotic potential of the medium used for growth or pre-incubation of the FLRs. Its value was not dependent on the molecular size of the osmolytes used to adjust Ψso, including dextran 8, which is excluded from cell walls. In all of the studied plants, M was lower than the osmotic potential of the xylem sap collected from the root before isolation of the FLRs. To explain this finding it is assumed that FLRs with Ψsxo > M had a higher hydraulic conductivity and a larger volume contributed to the exuded sap than those with Ψsx < M.

Keywords: hydraulic conductivity; maize; radial water transport; root reflection coefficient; xylem loading; Zea mays
Subjects: xylem sap; water transport; hydraulic conductance; osmotic potential; reflection coefficient; xylem loading; vascular bundles; NaCl; mannitol; polyethylene glycol; melibiose; exudation
Species: Zea mays

Received: March 11, 2011; Accepted: July 28, 2011; Published: December 1, 2012Show citation

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Fritz, M., & Ehwald, R. (2012). Visualisation of xylem sap flow direction in isolated fine lateral roots and estimation of the xylem sap osmotic potential. Biologia plantarum, 56(4), 749-756. doi: 10.1007/s10535-012-0121-3.
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