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Interveinal Distance for Carbohydrate Transport in Leaves of C3 and C4 Grasses 1
Author(s) -
Crookston R. Kent,
Moss Dale N.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1974.0011183x001400010038x
Subject(s) - vascular bundle , biology , photosynthesis , botany , clearance , poaceae , vascular tissue , vascular plant , c4 photosynthesis , photosynthetic capacity , ecology , medicine , species richness , urology
Among common crop and range Gramineae, we found that species with the C 4 pathway for photosynthesis had fewer cells between leaf vascular bundles than did C 3 species. We extracted chlorophyll from leaf segments of 10 Ca and 10 C 4 species, cleared the segments in 10% aqueous NaOH, counted the number of mesophyll cells between vascular bundle sheaths, and measured the distance (center to center) between the vascular bundles. The C 3 species had 9 to 15 mesophyll cells between vascular bundle sheaths, while the C 4 species had only 2. The vascular bundles were 0.18 to 0.36 mm (average 0.27) apart in C 3 species, but only 0.08 to 0.15 mm (average 0.11) apart in C 3 species. The closeness of all leaf cells to vascular tissue in C 4 species suggests efficiency for transporting the products of photosynthesis and may be an important factor in their greater capacity to fix CO 2 .