Mössbauer investigation of iron uptake in wheat

Abstract

Iron uptake and distribution in wheat roots were studied with 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy. Plants were grown both in iron sufficient and in iron deficient nutrient solutions. Mossbauer spectra of the frozen iron sufficient roots exhibited three iron(III) components with the typical average Mossbauer parameters of δ = 0.50 mm s − 1, Δ = 0.43 mm s − 1, δ = 0.50 mm s − 1, Δ = 0.75 mm s − 1 and δ = 0.50 mm s − 1, Δ = 1.20 mm s − 1 at 80 K. These doublets are very similar to those obtained earlier for cucumber [0], which allows us to suppose that iron is stored in a very similar way in different plants. No ferrous iron could be identified in any case, not even in the iron deficient roots, which confirms the mechanism proposed for iron uptake in the graminaceous plants.