SYMPLASTIC AND APOPLASTIC WATER PATHWAYS INTO COTTON FRUIT

H.W. van Israel, D.X. Oosterhuis, and W.M. Harris

ABSTRACT

Water transport to cotton fruit may occur through two different pathways, apoplastic or symplastic. Xylem water flow to cotton fruit was quantified with the apoplastic tracer Sulforhodamine G and it was shown that apoplastic water flow to young fruit (< 23 days after anthesis) was negligible. Therefore it seems likely that symplastic water flow may play an important role in supplying the fruit with water. Calculations based on the sucrose concentration in the phloem and the total amount of assimilates needed for fruit growth show that the phloem may indeed supply about 65% of the total water demand of a developing fruit. Phloem transport is currently being investigated with the use of the symplastic fluorescent tracer 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. Preliminary results of these studies are presented in this poster.





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Document last modified July 8, 2004