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Title: Testing the Münch hypothesis of long distance phloem transport in plants

Journal Article · · eLife
DOI:https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15341· OSTI ID:1261693
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [6]
  1. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, United States
  2. School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, United States, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
  3. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, United States
  4. Department of Biosciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York
  5. Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
  6. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Long distance transport in plants occurs in sieve tubes of the phloem. The pressure flow hypothesis introduced by Ernst Münch in 1930 describes a mechanism of osmotically generated pressure differentials that are supposed to drive the movement of sugars and other solutes in the phloem, but this hypothesis has long faced major challenges. The key issue is whether the conductance of sieve tubes, including sieve plate pores, is sufficient to allow pressure flow. We show that with increasing distance between source and sink, sieve tube conductivity and turgor increases dramatically in Ipomoea nil. Our results provide strong support for the Münch hypothesis, while providing new tools for the investigation of one of the least understood plant tissues.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
1261693
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1261694; OSTI ID: 1628853
Journal Information:
eLife, Journal Name: eLife Vol. 5; ISSN 2050-084X
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd.Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 97 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (24)

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Cited By (17)

Symplasmic phloem unloading and radial post-phloem transport via vascular rays in tuberous roots of Manihot esculenta journal June 2019
Evolution and palaeophysiology of the vascular system and other means of long-distance transport journal December 2017
Manipulation of sucrose phloem and embryo loading affects pea leaf metabolism, carbon and nitrogen partitioning to sinks as well as seed storage pools journal October 2019
Scaling of phloem hydraulic resistance in stems and leaves of the understory angiosperm shrub Illicium parviflorum journal February 2019
The long and winding road: transport pathways for amino acids in Arabidopsis seeds journal March 2018
Passive phloem loading and long-distance transport in a synthetic tree-on-a-chip journal March 2017
CPlantBox, a whole-plant modelling framework for the simulation of water- and carbon-related processes journal January 2020
Limitations to using phloem sap to assess tree water and nutrient status journal December 2018
Drought impacts on tree phloem: from cell-level responses to ecological significance journal February 2019
Diurnal dynamics of phloem loading: theoretical consequences for transport efficiency and flow characteristics journal February 2019
Long distance RNA movement journal February 2018
Computational models evaluating the impact of sieve plates and radial water exchange on phloem pressure gradients: Sieve Plate and Tube Character Modeling journal September 2018
Carbon isotopic tracing of sugars throughout whole‐trees exposed to climate warming journal August 2019
Sugars en route to the roots. Transport, metabolism and storage within plant roots and towards microorganisms of the rhizosphere journal September 2018
An update on phloem transport: a simple bulk flow under complex regulation journal January 2017
Root Exudation of Primary Metabolites: Mechanisms and Their Roles in Plant Responses to Environmental Stimuli journal February 2019
Phloem unloading in Arabidopsis roots is convective and regulated by the phloem-pole pericycle journal February 2017

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