Set 1 - Answers To Selected Problems Water Potential: W W W S P
Set 1 - Answers To Selected Problems Water Potential: W W W S P
Water potential
If the cell is placed in the beaker before being in water, water flows
into the cell; if after being in water, water flows out. At equilibrium,
Ψw of the cell is -0.7, Ψp = 0.9, Ψs = -1.6 MPa (again, assuming no
significant increase in volume).
7. The primary walls of leaf mesophyl cells in some plants are much
more elastic (that is, stretchy) than in other plants. For example, a
willow, Salix lasiandra, which grows near streams, has more elastic
cell walls than Ginkgo biloba trees, which grow in drier areas. (a) If I
gave you a corn leaf and a sunflower leaf, how would you tell how
elastic the cells of each were? (b) What adaptive advantage could
greater elasticity (stretchiness) provide? Hint: consider that growth
rate is related to Ψp. (c) What disadvantage might be associated with
greater elasticity?
8. The eggs of the marine alga Fucus are shed directly into sea water
without any cell walls. This makes it easier for the antherozoids
(sperm) to fertilize them. A cell wall forms 4 to 8 hours after
fertilization. About 15-25 hours after fertilization, the cell starts to
enlarge, forming a long, thin rhizoid. Discuss the components of
water potential of the Fucus egg before fertilization, immediately
after wall formation, and during the formation of the rhizoid. Assume
the seawater has a Ψs of -0.7 MPa.
10. A fresh lettuce leaf with a 90% relative water content is placed in
a box at 20oC that contains air of 90% relative humidity. Will the leaf
lose water, absorb water, or stay the same? If the box is put in a
refrigerator at 4oC, will the leaf lose water, absorb water, or stay the
same?
A "fresh" lettuce leaf can be assumed to be turgid and thus have Ψp>
0 and Ψw > -0.7 MPa. Air at 90% RH has Ψ = -14.3 MPa. The leaf
will lose water to air. Placed into a refrigerator, the air in the box will
become saturated (100% RH), Ψ = 0 MPa, and the leaf will gain
water.
11. Calculate the original Ψcell, Ψs, and Ψp for the cells in a thin slice
of plant tissue, using data that show the gain and loss of weight, and
the % plasmolysis, when the tissue is placed in different
concentrations of sucrose. What errors are inherent in this method?
0 + 0.53 0
0.05 +0.50 0
0.1 +0.40 0
0.15 +0.15 0
0.2 -0.05 0
0.25 -0.20 10
0.30 -0.40 90
Transpiration
(a) The system inside the bomb is at equilibrium. (b) In the bomb,
Ψw(xylem) = 0 (it is at equilibrium with air outside the bomb), and
Ψw(leaf cell) = 0; on the tree, Ψw(xylem) = -1 MPa, and Ψw(leaf cell)
= -1 MPa. (c) The plant will be transpiring, and both Ψw(xylem) and
Ψw(leaf cell) would be < -1 MPa. On the plant (not in the bomb),
Ψw(leaf cell) < Ψw(xylem), the amount of difference depending on
the transpiration rate. On the plant, the system is not at equilibrium.
22. Provide a detailed description of why plants can use the energy
from the sun to drive the flow of water through the plant.
Increased water uptake could be due to: more root branching, more
root per shoot, more aquaporins in root cell membranes (reducing
resistance), larger tracheid and vessel diameters (reducing resistance),
more vessels compared to tracheids, more xylem in stems, petioles,
and leaves. Other possible traits include: control of stomatal aperture
in response to water stress or time-of-day.
"Tug" at the top (water-air interface in the leaf) is due to the force
exerted by surface tension in small capillaries (at the pits of xylem, in
the cell walls of parenchymal cells). Another source of "tug"--inside
the cell--is provided by the solute effect. Tug at the bottom of the
xylem is provided by gravity, by solute effect of stelar and cortical
cells, and by matric potential of soil (also surface tension). The
balance requires cohesion of water through intermolecular hydrogen
bonding.
The plant in the bell jar transpires more rapidly. Bell jar: Δc = 2.201
- 1.28 = 0.921 mol/m3; rate = 20000*0.921/150 = 122.8 mg/m2-s.
Shade: Δc = 1.28 - 0.7(1.28) = 0.384 mol/m3; rate =
20000*0.384/150 = 51.2 mg/m2-s.
36. Some crop plants tend to grow mostly at night, while others grow
more or less uniformly day and night. Discuss differences in the
plants that could account for the differences in growth patterns,
considering especially net water potential and stomatal control.
42. Tobacco plants, like most plants, open their stomata during the
day and close them at night. Kalenchoe, a so-called "CAM plant,"
opens stomata during the night and closes them during the day.
What differences would you expect between the guard cells of the
two different types of plants?
We can assume that this is temporary wilt and thus that Ψw of soil is
less negative than Ψs of leaf cells (Ψp of leaf cells is positive at night).
The wilt indicates that the Ψw of the leaf apoplast falls below Ψs of
the leaf cells during the day. This must occur in pumpkin but not
bean, either because Ψs of pumpkin leaf cells is less negative than
that of bean, or because of resistance to water flow up the pumpkin
xylem or into the root stele is greater than in bean. If the Ψs of the
bean cells is more negative than that of pumpkin cells, it may be so
all the time, or it may adjust daily as Ψw of the soil falls.
46. List several ways in which water deficit can affect shoot growth.
Which is permanent in effect even when sufficient water
subsequently becomes available?
52. Using the Zea mays stomatal guard cell system as your model,
explain the events that may give rise to stomatal closure during a
period of water stress. Start with “Ψw of soil drops.”
Ψw of soil drops -> Ψw and Ψp of root cells drop -> ABA synthesis -
> ABA exported to xylem sap and moves to leaf in transpiration
stream [and] xylem sap pH rises from 6.3 to 7.2 (why? how?) ->
ABA moves to guard cells (receptors in plasma membrane or in
cytoplasm--see p. 549 ff) -> increased cytoplasmic Ca2+, inhibition of
H + efflux, opening of anion channels -> efflux of Cl- and malate- ->
depolarization of membrane potential -> K+ efflux -> less negative Ψs
-> less positive Ψp -> elastic contraction of cell walls -> stoma closes
Mineral Nutrition
Ca2+ is essential for cell wall and membrane structures and for the
activity of some enzymes, and it serves as a signal compound; a lack
results in necrosis of growing regions. Fe3+ must be reduced to Fe2+,
which is essential for chlorophyll synthesis and for some cofactors
(cytochromes) in mitochondrial respiratory metabolism; a lack results
in chlorotic young leaves. NO3- is a source of N, essential for the
synthesis of any amino acid and nucleotide, but it must be reduced to
NH4+ before it can be incorporated into glutamine and from there to
other compounds; a lack results in chlorosis of older leaves, stunting,
and brittleness from excess carbohydrates.