Control of the rate of cell enlargement: Excision, wall relaxation, and growth-induced water potentials.

A new guillotine thermocouple psychrometer was used to make continuous measurements of water potential before and after the excision of elongating and mature regions of darkgrown soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) stems. Transpiration could not occur, but growth took place during the measurement if the tissue was intact. Tests showed that the instrument measured the average water potential of the sampled tissue and responded rapidly to changes in water potential. By measuring tissue osmotic potential (Ψ s ), turgor pressure (Ψ p ) could be calculated. In the intact plant, Ψ s and Ψ p were essentially constant for the entire 22 h measurement, but Ψ s was lower and Ψ p higher in the elongating region than in the mature region. This caused the water potential in the elongating region to be lower than in the mature region. The mature tissue equilibrated with the water potential of the xylem. Therefore, the difference in water potential between mature and elongating tissue represented a difference between the xylem and the elongating region, reflecting a water potential gradient from the xylem to the epidermis that was involved in supplying water for elongation. When mature tissue was excised with the guillotine, Ψ s and Ψ p did not change. However, when elongating tissue was excised, water was absorbed from the xylem, whose water potential decreased. This collapsed the gradient and prevented further water uptake. Tissue Ψ p then decreased rapidly (5 min) by about 0.1 MPa in the elongating tissue. The Ψ p decreased because the cell walls relaxed as extension, caused by Ψ p , continued briefly without water uptake. The Ψ p decreased until the minimum for wall extension (Y) was reached, whereupon elongation ceased. This was followed by a slow further decrease in Y but no additional elongation. In elongating tissue excised with mature tissue attached, there was almost no effect on water potential or Ψ p for several hours. Nevertheless, growth was reduced immediately and continued at a decreasing rate. In this case, the mature tissue supplied water to the elongating tissue and the cell walls did not relax. Based on these measurements, a theory is presented for simultaneously evaluating the effects of water supply and water demand associated with growth. Because wall relaxation measured with the psychrometer provided a new method for determining Y and wall extensibility, all the factors required by the theory could be evaluated for the first time in a single sample. The analysis showed that water uptake and wall extension co-limited elongation in soybean stems under our conditions. This co-limitation explains why elongation responded immediately to a decrease in the water potential of the xylem and why excision with attached mature tissue caused an immediate decrease in growth rate without an immediate change in Ψ p.

Water potentials induced by growth in soybean hypocotyls.

Gradients in water potential form the driving force for the movement of water for cell enlargement. In stems, they are oriented radially around the vascular system but should also be present along the stem. To test this possibility, growth, water potential, osmotic potential, and turgor were determined at intervals along the length of dark-grown soybean (Glycine max L. Merr., cv. Wayne) hypocotyls. Transpiration was negligible in the dark, humid conditions, so that all water uptake was for growth. Elongation occurred in the terminal 1.5 centimeters of the hypocotyl. Water potential was -3.5 bars in the elongating region but -0.5 bar in the mature region, both in intact plants and detached tissue. There was a gradual transition between these values that was related to the growth profile along the hypocotyl. Tissue osmotic potentials generally paralleled tissue water potentials, so that turgor was the same throughout the length of the hypocotyl. If the elongating zone was excised, growth ceased immediately. If the elongating zone was excised along with mature tissue, however, growth continued, which confirmed the presence of a water-potential gradient that caused longitudinal water movement from the mature zone to the elongating zone. When the plants were grown in vermiculite having low water potentials, tissue water potentials and osmotic potentials both decreased, so that water potential gradients and turgor remained undiminished. It is concluded that growth-induced water potentials reflect the local activity for cell enlargement and are supported by appropriate osmotic potentials.

Carrier Protein-mediated Transport of Neutral Amino Acids into Mung Bean Mitochondria.

The transport of neutral amino acids into mitochondria isolated from the hypocotyl of mung bean (Roxb.) was studied by the swelling technique. Isolated mitochondria swelled when added to an isosmotic solution of proline, serine, methionine, threonine, alanine, and glycine. The swelling was stereospecific in that it was faster in the l-amino acid than in the corresponding d-amino acid. Preincubation of the mitochondria with the sulfhydryl modifying reagents, p-mercuribenzoate and mersalyl, resulted in an inhibition of the swelling caused by proline, serine, threonine, and glycine. The swelling induced by alanine was inhibited only by mersalyl, whereas that by methionine was inhibited only by p-mercuribenzoate. In all cases, the inhibition caused by the sulfhydryl modifying reagents was readily reversible by the subsequent treatment of the mitochondria with dithiothreitol. N-Ethylmaleimide, another sulfhydryl-modifying reagent, did not cause any inhibition of the swelling. The findings indicate the existence of a protein mediated mechanism for the transport of neutral amino acids into plant mitochondria.

Proline Oxidase and Water Stress-induced Proline Accumulation in Spinach Leaves.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaf discs accumulated free proline when exposed to polyethylene glycol solutions of water potential less than -10 bars. At -20 bars, the accumulation was 11 micromoles per gram original fresh weight in a 24-hour period.When the leaf organelles were separated on a sucrose gradient, a proline oxidase was detected in the mitochondrial fraction. Isolated mitochondria were used for the study of the properties of the enzyme which was assayed by both oxygen uptake measurement and reduction of 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol in the presence of phenazine methosulfate. There was a stoichiometry of one-half mole of oxygen uptake per mole of Delta(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate production in the enzymic reaction. The enzyme had an optimal activity at pH 8.0 to 8.5 and an apparent K(m) value of 0.028 molar for proline. MgCl(2) and flavin adenine dinucleotide were required for maximal activity. Addition of sucrose, mannitol, or polyethylene glycol to reduce the water potential of the reaction mixture to as low as -20 bars resulted in little inhibition. The enzyme preparation was unable to reduce NAD to NADH, and NAD did not inhibit the enzyme activity. The enzyme preparation reduced cytochrome c in the presence of KCN. Triton X-100 at low concentration strongly inhibited the enzyme activity. The enzyme was apparently linked to the mitochondrial electron transport system. The in vitro activity of the enzyme under optimal assay conditions was high enough to prevent proline accumulation under water stress condition; presumably this activity was restrained in vivo.