POST-PHLOEM TRANSPORT - PRINCIPLES AND PROBLEMS

The movement of assimilates from the sieve element/companion cell comp lex to sites of utilization has been examined in an extensive array of sinks possessing diverse anatomies. This work has been reviewed with respect to the pathways taken, the conductances and driving forces for movement along the pathways, and interaction between the apoplast and symplast. Most investigations to date have been concerned primarily w ith determining the pathway of assimilate movement. A symplastic pathw ay is followed in the great majority of cases studied. However, availa ble methods are less suited for demonstrating apoplastic transport in those instances where it occurs. Far less information is available on quantitative aspects of post-phloem transport. Only a very limited num ber of observations are available on the diffusive or hydraulic conduc tances of the apoplast or symplast. In some cases, symplastic conducta nce appears to be enhanced by a larger-than-usual size exclusion limit for cell-to-cell transport. Measurements of the driving forces for po st-phloem transport (i.e. gradients in concentration and/or pressure) are also very few in number nor, to date, are they always readily inte rpretable. Evaluation of solute movement is complicated by interaction s between the apoplastic and symplastic pathways, including water rela tions effects and solute exchange. The presence of apoplastic domains or, simply, high resistance to movement in the apoplast, can lead to s teep water relations gradients within sinks, with important implicatio ns for transport. To understand how import into sinks is controlled, m any more quantitative measurements are needed. This will require consi derable experimental ingenuity.