Translocation from leaves to fruits of a legume, studied by a phloem bleeding technique: Diurnal changes and effects of continuous darkness

Abstract

Diurnal changes in the carbohydrates of leaf laminae and fruits and in the bleeding of sugar and amino acids from fruit phloem were followed by successive sampling from a population of Lupinus albus L. plants. Phloem sap was collected for a standard 5 min period from cut distal tips of attached fruits. Daily fluctuations in leaf dry matter resulted largely from changes in starch and sugar. Leaf sugar rose to a maximum in the afternoon, starch to a maximum at, or shortly after, dusk. Leaves lost sugar and starch from dusk to dawn. Phloem bleeding rate varied little over a daily cycle but sucrose levels fluctuated from a noon maximum of 12-13% (w/v) to a dawn minimum of 9-10%. The rhythm of phloem sugar levels matched closely those of fruit and leaf. Phloem amino acid levels fluctuated in phase with that of sucrose: the relative composition of the amino fraction did not vary significantly over the daily cycle. Pulse feeding of source leaves with (14)CO2 at different times in the photoperiod allowed study of the pattern of release of labelled photosynthate to the fruit phloem and the build up and depletion of (14)C starch in leaves. Plants transferred to continuous darkness showed a rapid decline in output and concentration of phloem sap solutes, and translocated nitrogen to their fruits at only one quarter of the rate of control plants retained in natural daylight. The combined data from the experiments showed that the rate of output of sugar from cut phloem of a fruit was directly related to the current level of sugar in leaves. When leaf sugar levels were low (5-10 mg ml tissue water(-1)) sugar in phloem was 10-11 times more concentrated than in source leaves, but at high leaf sugar levels (25-30 mg ml(-1)) this concentration difference was only 3-4 fold.