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Diffusion and reaction of oxygen in the central tissue of ureide‐producing legume nodules
Author(s) -
Thumfort P. P.,
Layzell D. B.,
Atkins C. A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3040.1999.00498.x
Subject(s) - compartmentalization (fire protection) , legume , intracellular , biophysics , diffusion , cell , biology , cell wall , oxygen , cytoplasm , extracellular , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , botany , physics , organic chemistry , enzyme , thermodynamics
Previous simulation models for the diffusion and reaction of oxygen in legume nodules were based on infected cells and neglected adjacent uninfected cells. This study uses a three‐dimensional model of the central zone of legume nodules made up of the two cell types represented by a geometrically defined, space‐filling, binary combination of polyhedra, each with bevelled edges to allow for a network of intercellular gas spaces. The model predicted a distinctively compartmentalized distribution of [O 2 ] between uninfected and infected cells; with high O 2 concentrations for an uninfected cell being consistent with, and necessary for, efficient operation of uricase and ureide synthesis and low O 2 concentrations across most of the infected cell providing a suitable environment for N 2 ‐fixation. Compartmentalization of O 2 also predicted significant O 2 fluxes between cell types, compromising maintenance of low [O 2 ] in infected cells, as well as high [O 2 ] in uninfected cells. The results predict that there might be significant resistance to O 2 diffusion across the cell : cell interface due to the plasmalemma and cell walls.