Soluble metabolites in intercellular regions of squash hypocotyl tissues: Implications for exudation

Summary Amino acids, organic acids, and sugars make up the bulk of ¹⁴C-assimilates that leach from freshly excised sections of subterranean hypocotyls of squash plants allowed to fix ¹⁴CO₂ photosynthetically. Based on kinetics of leakage, it appears that metabolites are present in significant levels in intercellular regions of squash hypocotyls and that they may be the major source of hypocotyl exudates. Although the anatomical relations of epidermal cells hinder excessive metabolite losses by subterranean portions of hypocotyls, avenues of diffusion are continuous along cell walls and middle lamellae between cortical tissue and the hypocotyl surface. re]19751115