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Published Online January 25, 2001
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1057175

Reports

Submitted on November 11, 2000
Accepted on January 9, 2001

Hydrogel Control of Xylem Hydraulic Resistance in Plants

Maciej A. Zwieniecki 1*, Peter J. Melcher 1, N. Michele Holbrook 1

1 Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mzwienie{at}oeb.harvard.edu.

Increasing concentrations of ions flowing through the xylem of plants produce rapid, substantial, and reversible decreases in hydraulic resistance. Changes in hydraulic resistance in response to solution ion concentration, pH, and non-polar solvents are consistent with this process being mediated by hydrogels. The effect is localized to intervessel bordered pits, suggesting that micro-channels in the pit membranes are altered by the swelling/de-swelling of pectins, which are known hydrogels. The existence of an ion-mediated response breaks the long held paradigm of the xylem as a system of inert pipes and suggests a mechanism by which plants may regulate their internal flow regime.


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