Movement of 14C-labeled Sugars into Kernels of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

An anatomical study of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) kernels 14 days after anthesis revealed that the tracheary elements of the pericarp vascular bundle are not in direct continuity with those of the rachilla. The phloem was continuous from the rachilla into the crease of the pericarp.Shortly after exposure of the flag leaf to (14)CO(2), relatively high proportion of the (14)C extracted from the pericarp and endosperm was found in glucose and fructose. With additional time, the percentage of (14)C in the monosaccharides declined and that in sucrose increased to a maximum 3 hours after (14)CO(2) exposure. The monosaccharides comprised about one-half of the soluble sugars extracted from the pericarp. Based on these observations, it appeared that sucrose hydrolysis might be prerequisite to sugar movement from the terminal phloem elements in the pericarp and into the endosperm. However, when (14)C-fructosyl-sucrose was injected into the peduncle, there was little additional randomization of the (14)C between the glucose and fructose moieties of sucrose extracted from the pericarp and endosperm compared to the rachis sucrose. If we assume that injected sucose was transported to the kernels via the phloem, then either sucrose moves out of the terminal phloem elements in the pericarp and into the endosperm unaltered, or if hydrolysis and resynthesis are a prerequisite to transport into the endosperm, the products of hydrolysis are not freely available for isomerization.