Biology Essay: Transport in plants Transport systems play an essential role in the survival of flowering plants.

. Large multicellular organisms such as flowering plants require specialised transport systems to provide sufficient exchange of needed materials and waste products. The movement of substances, in larger organisms, through body fluids between the external surface and internal cells by diffusion alone would be insufficient in meeting cellular requirements. Tiny organisms have a high surface area to volume ratio and can therefore directly exchange materials with the environment to adequately meet requirements of all cells. Larger organisms have a lower surface area to volume ratio and as a result the distances to be covered through the external surface by diffusion would be too far to meet the requirements of all cells. Hence, flowering plants (vascular plants) have developed specialised transport systems and effective exchange organs (leaves and roots) to efficiently transport required substances to and from all cells. Materials that are moved throughout the transport systems of flowering plants include water, carbohydrates (sugars), dissolved mineral ions and organic substances (amino acids) In flowering plants water and mineral ions (macro and micronutrients) are absorbed by root hairs from the soil and passed into xylem tissue which transports the water and dissolved nutrients upwards throughout the plant to the leaves. Sugars created by photosynthesis are actively transported from the leaves of the plant through to the phloem tissue usually in the form of sucrose (cell sap) to other parts of the plant either for storage or to be used for energy. Sucrose is also transported down phloem tissue from sources to sinks which store the sucrose as starch for future use.
Water enters a plant through the hairs on the root, and moves across the root cells into the xylem, which transports it up and around the plant. That, and solutes are moved around by the xylem and the phloem, using the root, stem and plant. Water enters the root through the root hairs, and then takes one of two paths (apoplast and symplast) to the xylem vessel. A root hair is a simple extension of the epidermis of a root cell, and reaches into the soil to absorb water. It exists to increase the surface area and therefore the rate at which water can be absorbed. Water moves into the root hair cells because it is moving down a water potential gradient, since a root cell has relatively low water potential due to its inorganic ions and organic substances. Water will enter through the membrane and into the cytoplasm and vacuole. From the root hair cells, water again moves down a concentration gradient toward the xylem, and can take one of two paths - apoplast and symplast. The apoplast pathway is where water takes a route going from cell wall to cell wall, not entering the cytoplasm at any point. The symplast pathway is where water moves between cytoplasm/vacuoles of adjacent cells. However, the apoplast pathway can only take water a certain way, near the xylem, the Casparian strip forms an impenetrable barrier to water in the cell walls, and it must move into

the cytoplasm to continue. This gives the plant control over the ions that enter its xylem vessels, since water must cross a plasma membrane to get there. The xylem is constructed of three main elements;

Vessel elements, including tracheids - cells involved in water transport Fibres - elongated cells with lignified walls that support the plant Parenchyma cells - normal plant cells, except no chloroplasts.

These vessel elements make up the xylem - and are many cells laid end to end, and are normal plant cells with their walls strengthened by lignin, a hard strong substance that is impermeable to water, and is designed to provide structure and strength to the plant. When these plant cells are strengthened by lignin, the cell inside dies, leaving a space inside. However, in some plasmodesmata, there was no lignin laid down and these appear as gaps in the xylem vessel, know as pits. These have permeable un-thickened cellulose cell wall. Thus, a continuous tube is formed, known as the xylem vessel.Tracheids are dead cells with lignified walls, but do not have open ends and thus do not form vessels - their ends are tapered. All plants have them, but some plants use them as main conducing tissue. The transport of soluble organic substances (assimilates) within a plant is known as translocation. The solutes are transported in sieve elements, found in the phloem tissues, along with other as companion cells, parenchyma and fibres. Sieve Elements are specialised cells, with few mitochondrion and endoplasmic reticulum, no nucleus or ribosomes. Where two ends of sieve elements meet, a sieve plate is formed, made from walls of both elements, with large pores allowing free flow of liquids between them. Companion cells are normal plant cells with high numbers of mitochondria and ribosomes, and have many plasmodesmata pass through to their neighbouring sieve cell walls, making direct contact between the cytoplasms of companion cell and sieve element. Mass flow is the theory by which we think solute transport occurs in plants. Any area where sucrose is produced in a plant is known as a source, and any area where it is taken out (usually, used in respiration) is known as a sink. Sucrose is actively transported into the sieve tubes of the phloem at the source (i.e. source), lowering the water potential inside the sieve and so water enters the tubes via osmosis, creating a higher pressure inside the sieve tubes at the source. At the sink, sugars leave the phloem to be used up, increasing the water potential inside the sieve tubes, so water leaves via osmosis, lowering the pressure inside the sieve tubes. The result is a pressure gradient between source to sink, pushing sugars to where they're needed.

Transpiration
Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from the leaves of a plant. As water evaporates from the leaf, a constantly occurring process, more water is taken in to replace it. The removal of water reduces the hydrostatic pressure (pressure exerted by a liquid). Since this pressure becomes lower at the top of the xylem vessel than at the bottom, this pressure difference causes water to move up the xylem vessels. This process is known as mass flow - as long with the fact that water molecules move together as a body of water - aided by water's property of being cohesive, and attracted to the lignin in the walls of the xylem vessels, known as adhesion.

Once water is in the leaf, it can be lost through the stomata, if there is a concentration gradient that it can go down, which small pores are in direct contract with the air outside. This process is known as transpiration. re are a number of factors that determine transpiration rates:

Temperature: Transpiration rates go up as the temperature goes up. Higher temperatures cause the plant cells which control the openings (stoma), where water is released to the atmosphere, to open, whereas colder temperatures cause the openings to close., Relative humidity: As the relative humidity of the air surrounding the plant rises the transpiration rate falls. It is easier for water to evaporate into dryer air than into more saturated air. Wind and air movement: Increased movement of the air around a plant will result in a higher transpiration rate. This is somewhat related to the relative humidity of the air, in that as water transpires from a leaf, the water saturates the air surrounding the leaf. If there is no wind, the air around the leaf may not move very much, raising the humidity of the air around the leaf. Wind will move the air around, with the result that the more saturated air close to the leaf is replaced by drier air. Soil-moisture availability: When soil moisture is lacking, plants can begin to senesce (premature ageing, which can result in leaf loss) and transpire less water. Type of plant: Plants transpire water at different rates. Some plants which grow in arid regionsfor example, cacti and succulentsconserve precious water by transpiring less water than other plants.

Components of the cell membrane

Components
The previous section spoke about several components that may be new to you, their structures and roles are below.

Phospholipids
You may remember phospholipids from chapter two. It was stated that they have hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails, the importance of which should be becoming clear. A phospholipids bi-layer forms the body of the membrane, creating a hydrophobic interior and isolating the cell from the outside environment. Do not forget that organelles within a cell are also often surrounded by a membrane, and this too is a phospholipid membrane.

Proteins
Proteins have a variety of functions within membranes. Some membrane proteins are enzymes, catalysing reactions such as the ones in the surface of the small intestine, that hydrolyse disaccharide molecules, among others. However, most are transport proteins, providing hydrophilic channels through the bi-layer for ions and polar molecules to pass through. They are usually specific to a certain ion or molecule. They can control the types of substances that can leave or enter the cell. The membranes of organelles also hold proteins - for example mitochondria and chloroplasts require them for processes of respiration and photosynthesis.

Glycoproteins and Glycolipids

Lipid and proteins on the cell membrane surface often have short carbohydrate chains protruding out from the cell surface, known as glycolipids and glycoproteins. They form hydrogen bonds with the water molecules surrounding the cell and thus help to stabilise membrane structure. However, more importantly, they are used as receptor molecules, binding with hormones or neurotransmitters to trigger a series of chemical reactions within the cell itself. Using insulin as an example, only some cells within the body (liver, muscles), have receptors for insulin and as such, insulin can be released to the entire body without upsetting anything as any cell without an insulin receptor will not be affected.

Cholesterol
Cholesterol helps to regulate fluidity of the membrane and also to provide mechanical stability of the membranes - without it cells will burst open as their membranes break. Their hydrophobic regions help to prevent ions or polar molecules inadvertently passing through the membrane.

Fluid Mosaic Model

A diagram of the fluid mosaic model can be seen below. Features of the fluid mosaic model;

The membrane primarily consists of a bilayer of phospholipid

molecules. These molecules can move about by diffusion in their own layer. Width is about 7nm on average Some of the phospholipids are saturated and some are unsaturated. This affects the fluidity of the membrane; an unsaturated membrane means a more fluid membrane. This is due to the kink in unsaturated tails causing the molecules to not sit closely together.

Phospholipid tails point inwards, facing each other, meaning that inside the membrane it is non-polar hydrophobic. The protein molecules within the structure can move around although some are fixed to structures inside the cell and do not move. Also, some of them span the width of the membrane; some are only on the inner layer and some on the outer layer.

Many proteins and lipids have short carbohydrate chains attached to them, forming glycoprotein and glycolipids. Contains cholesterol.

Transporting Substances Around the Body

The Circulatory System

The blood circulation system we have is made up of three main components: blood vessels, the heart and theblood. It is made up of two different blood systems adouble circulation. The diagram shows that one transports blood from the heart to the lungs and back again, the other takes blood around the rest of the body. Having a double circulation is vital in animals like ourselves because we are constantly active and in need of a rich blood supply and with this system, we are constantly receiving oxygenated blood from the lungs which is sent around the body in one cycle. There are three main blood vessels in the system, which have all adapted to carry out specific functions. The diagram below shows each of them

The arteries (left diagram)carry blood away from the heart to the organs in the body. This is usually oxygenated blood, explaining the red tubes. When you feel your pulse, that is the arteries stretching as blood is forced through them and returning back into their original shape.

The

veins carry blood towards the heart, usually low in oxygen and hence are deep

purple-red in colour. No pulse in veins, but they do contain valves usually which prevent the backflow of blood. The capillaries are found in junctions between the arteries and veins. These are found in huge networks. The walls are a single cell thick so that substances which need to get out of the blood and into body cells can easily via diffusion. The Human Heart Our hearts are made of two pumps, for the double circulation. These together beat around seventy times a minute. The walls of the heart are made pretty much entirely from muscle, which gets oxygen from the coronary blood vessels.