Movement Patterns of Carbon from Source to Sink in Cranberry

Abstract

The source of photosynthate for developing cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) fruit can be partitioned spatially among new growth acropetal to fruit, 1-year-old leaves basipetal to fruit, and adjacent uprights along the same runner. Cranberry uprights were labeled with 14CO2 in an open system with constant activity during flowering or fruit development. When new growth acropetal to fruit was labeled, substantial activity was found in flowers or fruit. Little activity was found in basipetal tissues. When 1-year-old basipetal leaves were labeled, most of the activity remained in the labeled leaves, with some activity in flowers or fruit. Almost no labeled C moved into acropetal tissues. When new growth of adjacent nonfruiting uprights on the same runner were labeled, almost no activity moved into the fruiting upright. These data confirm that new growth acropetal to developing flowers and fruit is the primary source of photosynthate for fruit development. Furthermore, they show that during the short time studied in our experiment, almost no C moved from one upright to another.