Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1995 Sep;109(1):331–335. doi: 10.1104/pp.109.1.331

Effects of Mercuric Chloride on the Hydraulic Conductivity of Tomato Root Systems (Evidence for a Channel-Mediated Water Pathway).

A Maggio 1, R J Joly 1
PMCID: PMC157593  PMID: 12228599

Abstract

A pressure-flux approach was used to evaluate the effects of HgCl2 on water transport in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) roots. Addition of HgCl2 to a root-bathing solution caused a large and rapid reduction in pressure-induced root water flux; the inhibition was largely reversible upon addition of [beta]-mercaptoethanol. Root system hydraulic conductivity was reduced by 57%. There was no difference between treatments in the K+ concentration in xylem exudate. The results are consistent with the presence of a protein-mediated path for transmembrane water flow in tomato roots.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (538.2 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Chrispeels M. J., Maurel C. Aquaporins: the molecular basis of facilitated water movement through living plant cells? Plant Physiol. 1994 May;105(1):9–13. doi: 10.1104/pp.105.1.9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Daniels M. J., Mirkov T. E., Chrispeels M. J. The plasma membrane of Arabidopsis thaliana contains a mercury-insensitive aquaporin that is a homolog of the tonoplast water channel protein TIP. Plant Physiol. 1994 Dec;106(4):1325–1333. doi: 10.1104/pp.106.4.1325. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Fiscus E. L. Determination of hydraulic and osmotic properties of soybean root systems. Plant Physiol. 1977 Jun;59(6):1013–1020. doi: 10.1104/pp.59.6.1013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Höfte H., Hubbard L., Reizer J., Ludevid D., Herman E. M., Chrispeels M. J. Vegetative and Seed-Specific Forms of Tonoplast Intrinsic Protein in the Vacuolar Membrane of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol. 1992 Jun;99(2):561–570. doi: 10.1104/pp.99.2.561. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Joly R. J. Effects of sodium chloride on the hydraulic conductivity of soybean root systems. Plant Physiol. 1989 Dec;91(4):1262–1265. doi: 10.1104/pp.91.4.1262. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lopushinsky W. Effect of Water Movement on Ion Movement into the Xylem of Tomato Roots. Plant Physiol. 1964 May;39(3):494–501. doi: 10.1104/pp.39.3.494. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Macey R. I. Transport of water and urea in red blood cells. Am J Physiol. 1984 Mar;246(3 Pt 1):C195–C203. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.1984.246.3.C195. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Maurel C., Reizer J., Schroeder J. I., Chrispeels M. J. The vacuolar membrane protein gamma-TIP creates water specific channels in Xenopus oocytes. EMBO J. 1993 Jun;12(6):2241–2247. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05877.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Meyer M. M., Verkman A. S. Evidence for water channels in renal proximal tubule cell membranes. J Membr Biol. 1987;96(2):107–119. doi: 10.1007/BF01869237. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Pratz J., Ripoche P., Corman B. Evidence for proteic water pathways in the luminal membrane of kidney proximal tubule. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1986 Apr 14;856(2):259–266. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(86)90035-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Preston G. M., Carroll T. P., Guggino W. B., Agre P. Appearance of water channels in Xenopus oocytes expressing red cell CHIP28 protein. Science. 1992 Apr 17;256(5055):385–387. doi: 10.1126/science.256.5055.385. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Preston G. M., Jung J. S., Guggino W. B., Agre P. The mercury-sensitive residue at cysteine 189 in the CHIP28 water channel. J Biol Chem. 1993 Jan 5;268(1):17–20. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Yamamoto Y. T., Taylor C. G., Acedo G. N., Cheng C. L., Conkling M. A. Characterization of cis-acting sequences regulating root-specific gene expression in tobacco. Plant Cell. 1991 Apr;3(4):371–382. doi: 10.1105/tpc.3.4.371. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Ye R. G., Verkman A. S. Simultaneous optical measurement of osmotic and diffusional water permeability in cells and liposomes. Biochemistry. 1989 Jan 24;28(2):824–829. doi: 10.1021/bi00428a062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. van Heeswijk M. P., van Os C. H. Osmotic water permeabilities of brush border and basolateral membrane vesicles from rat renal cortex and small intestine. J Membr Biol. 1986;92(2):183–193. doi: 10.1007/BF01870707. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. van Hoek A. N., de Jong M. D., van Os C. H. Effects of dimethylsulfoxide and mercurial sulfhydryl reagents on water and solute permeability of rat kidney brush border membranes. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1990 Dec 14;1030(2):203–210. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(90)90296-z. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES