Carbon Dioxide Fixation and Salt Uptake in Particulate Preparations from Barley Roots

Previous workers (4, 6) have shown that C02 fixation in excised roots is related to ion absorption since an absorption of excess cations results in an increase in both the C02 fixation and in the formation of labelled malic acid. The accumulation of cations and anions has been demonstrated in both animal (1, 5, 8) and plant (7) mitochondria, and in view of Robertson's hypothesis that the mitochondria may be involved in electrolyte accumulation in the plant cell, it was of interest to determine whether the C02 fixation by particulate preparations from barley roots (3, 9) is influenced by the absorption of salts.