Cellular Cobalt Fluxes in Roots and Transport to the Shoots of Wheat Seedlings

Macklon, A. E. S. and Sim, A. 1987. Cellular cobalt fluxes inroots and transport to the shoots of wheat seedlings.—J.exp. Bot. 38: 1663–1677. From compartmental analysis of radioisotope elution measurements,concentrations and fluxes of cobalt were estimated for corticalcells of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Fenman) seedling roots,relative to a complete nutrient solution containing 20 mmolm³ Co^{2 +} . The water free space, Donnan free space and cytoplasmcontained little Co relative to the high levels accumulatedin the vacuole, resulting in time courses of Co uptake whichwere essentially linear in continuous light. In light/dark cyclesthere was almost complete inhibition of uptake during the darkperiods. Comparison of estimated concentrations of Co in cytoplasmand vacuole with values to be expected, if passive diffusionalone was operative, indicated that active transport was occurringin an outward direction at the plasmalemma and into the vacuoleat the tonoplast. Transport to the shoot, which was unaffectedby transpirational water flux through the plant, reached about10% of root absorbed Co, most of which was stored in the corticalcell vacuoles and removed from the transport pathway. Between0·02 and 20 mmol m ³ Co in external solution, uptakewas linearly related to concentration on a log/log plot, andthe proportion of transported Co was constant. The implicationsof these findings are discussed. Key words: Cobalt, transmembrane fluxes, transport.