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

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Abstract

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

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Abbreviations

L:

tissue conductance for water

m:

wall extensibility

Y:

average yield threshold (MPa)

Ψ o :

water potential of the xylem

Ψ p :

turgor pressure

Ψ s :

osmotic potential

Ψ w :

water potential of the elon gating tissue

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Author notes

  1. John S. Boyer

    Present address: Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A & M University, 77843, College Station, TX, USA

  2. A. J. Cavalieri

    Present address: Department of Corn Breeding, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Box 85, 50131, Johnston, IA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    John S. Boyer & A. J. Cavalieri

  2. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    John S. Boyer & A. J. Cavalieri

  3. Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, 61801, Urbana, IL, USA

    John S. Boyer & A. J. Cavalieri

  4. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 3008, D-8580, Bayreuth, Federal Republic of Germany

    E. -D. Schulze

Authors
  1. John S. Boyer
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  2. A. J. Cavalieri
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  3. E. -D. Schulze
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Boyer, J.S., Cavalieri, A.J. & Schulze, E.D. Control of the rate of cell enlargement: Excision, wall relaxation, and growth-induced water potentials. Planta 163, 527–543 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00392710

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