Abstract
The evolution of cell walls allowed plants to solve the problem of osmoregulation in freshwater environments; however, cell walls restrict motility and place constraints on the evolution of long-distance transport systems. Tissues are too rigid for a heart-pump mechanism; instead, higher plants have two systems for long-distance transport. The dead elements of the xylem allow transport of water and solutes between sites of different water potentials. That transport system is dealt with in Chapter 3 on plant water relations. The other transport system, the phloem, allows the mass flow of carbohydrates and other solutes from a source region, where the hydrostatic pressure in the phloem is relatively high, to a sink region with lower pressure.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Reference
Böckenhoff, A., Prior, D.A.M., Gruddler, F.M.W., & Oparka, K.J. 1996. Induction of phloem unloading in Arabidopsis thaliana roots by the parasitic nematode Heterodera schachtii. Plant Physiol. 112: 1421–1427.
Dorhout, R., Gommers, F.J., & Kollöffel, C. 1993. Phloem transport of carboxyfluorescein through tomato roots infected with Meloidogyne incognita. Physiol. Mol. Plant Pathol. 43: 1–10.
Ewers, F.W. & Fisher, J.B. 1991. Why vines have narrow stems: Histological trends in Bauhinia fassoglensis (Fabaceae). Oecologia 88: 233–237.
Furch, A.C.U, Hafke, J.B., Schulz, A., & Van Bel, A.J.E. 2007. Ca2+-mediated remote control of reversible sieve tube occlusion in Vicia faba. J. Exp. Bot. 58: 2827–2838.
Gamalei, Y.V. 1989. Structure and function of leaf minor veins in trees and herbs. A taxonomic review. Trees 3: 96–110.
Gamalei, Y.V. 1991. Phloem loading and its development related to plant evolution from trees to herbs. Trees 5: 50–64.
Haritatos, E., Medville, R., & Turgeon, R. 2000. Minor vein structure and sugar transport in Arabidopsis thaliana. Planta 211: 105–111.
Hu, H., Penn, S.G., Lebrilla, C.B., & Brown P.H. 1997. Isolation and characterization of soluble boron complexes in higher plants: the mechanism of phloem mobility of boron. Plant Physiol. 113: 649–655.
Juarez, M.T., Kui, J.S., Thomas, J., Heller, B.A., & Timmermans, M.C.P. 2004. microRNA-mediated repression of rolled leaf1 specifies maize leaf polarity. Nature 428: 84–88.
Loescher, W.H. & Everard J.D. 2000. Regulation of sugar alcohol biosynthesis. In: Photosynthesis: physiology and metabolism, R.C. Leegood, T.D. Sharkey, & S. Von Caemmerer (eds.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 275–299.
Lough, T.J. & Lucas, W.J. 2006. Integrative plant biology: role of phloem long-distance molecular trafficking. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 57: 203–232.
Marschner, H. 1995. Mineral nutrition of higher plants, 2nd edition. Academic Press, London.
Offler, C.E., McCurdy, D.W., Patrick, J.W., & Talbot, M.J. 2003. Transfer cells: cells specialized for a special purpose. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 54: 431–454.
Oparka, K.J., Duckett, C.M., Prior, D.A.M., & Fisher, D.B. 1994. Real time imaging of phloem unloading in the root tip of Arabidopsis. Plant J. 6: 759–766.
Pate, J.S. & Hocking, P.J. 1978. Phloem and xylem transport in the supply of minerals to a developing legume (Lupinus albus L.) fruit. Ann. Bot. 42: 911–21.
Roberts, A.G., Santa Cruz, S., Roberts, I.M., Prior, D.A.M., Turgeon, R., & Oparka, K.J. 1997. Phloem unloading in sink leaves of Nicotiana benthaminiana: comparison of a fluorescent solute with a fluorescent virus. Plant Cell 9: 1381–1396.
Ruan, Y.-L., Llewellyn, D.J., & Furbank R.T. 2001. The control of single-celled cotton fiber elongation by developmentally reversible gating of plasmodesmata and coordinated expression of sucrose and K+ transporters and expansin. Plant Cell 13: 47–60.
Samaj, J., Baluska, F., Voigt, B., Schlicht, M., Volkmann, D., & Menzel, D. 2004. Endocytosis, actin cytoskeleton, and signaling. Plant Physiol. 135: 1150–1161.
Schrier, A.A., Hoffmann-Thoma, G., & Van Bel A.J.E. 2000. Temperature effects on symplasmic and apoplasmic phloem loading and loading-associated carbohydrate processing. Aust. J. Plant Physiol. 27: 769–778.
Turgeon R. 1987. Phloem unloading in tobacco sink leaves: insensitivity to anoxia indicates a symplastic pathway. Planta 171: 73–81.
Turgeon, R. 1991. Symplasmic phloem loading and the sink-source transition in leaves: A model. In: Recent advances in phloem transport and assimilate compartmentation, J.L. Bonnemain, S. Delrot, W.J. Lucas, & J. Dainty (eds.). Ouest Edition, Nantes, pp. 18–22.
Turgeon, R. 1995. The selection of raffinose family oligosaccharides as translocates in higher plants. In: Carbon partitioning and source-sink interactions in plants, M.A. Madore & W.J. Lucas (eds.). American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, pp. 195–203.
Turgeon, R. 1996. Phloem loading and plasmodesmata. Trends Plant Sci. 1: 418–423.
Turgeon R. 2006. Phloem loading: how leaves gain their independence. BioScience 56: 15–24.
Turgeon, R. & Medville, R. 1998. The absence of phloem loading in willow leaves. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95: 12055–12060.
Turgeon, R., Medville, R., & Nixon, K.C. 2001. The evolution of minor vein phloem and phloem loading. Am. J. Bot. 88: 1331–1339.
Van Bel, A.J.E. 2003. The phloem, a miracle of ingenuity. Plant Cell Environ. 26: 125–149.
Volk, G.M., Turgeon, R., & Beebe, D.U. 1996. Secondary plasmodesmata formation in the minor-vein phloem of Cucumis melo L. and Cucurbita pepo L. Planta 199: 425–432.
Wang, N. & Nobel, P.S. 1998. Phloem transport of fructans in the crassulacean acid metabolism species Agave deserti. Plant Physiol. 116: 709–714.
Will, T., Tjallingii, W.F., Thonnessen, A., & van Bel, A.J.E. 2007. Molecular sabotage of plant defense by aphid saliva. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 10536–10541.
Zhang, W.-H., Zhou, Y., Dibley, K.E., Tyerman, S.D., Furbank, R.T., & Patrick, J.W. 2007. Nutrient loading of developing seeds. Funct. Plant Biol. 34: 314–331.
Zhou, Y., Setz, N., Niemietz, C., Qu., H, Offler, C.E., Tyerman, S.D., & Patrick, J.W. 2007. Aquaporins and unloading of phloem-imported water in coats of developing bean seeds. Plant Cell Environ. 30: 1566–1577.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lambers, H., Chapin, F.S., Pons, T.L. (2008). Long-Distance Transport of Assimilates. In: Plant Physiological Ecology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78341-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78341-3_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-78340-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-78341-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)