It has been suggested for some time that the architectural properties of leaf venation are related to leaf functions; however, experimental evidence is scant and, when present, mainly investigates water or carbohydrate transport patterns. Transport of inorganic nutrients in relationship to leaf anatomical structure remains, to a large extent, an unexplored area in plant physiology. In this study, we correlated ion flux profiles with the anatomical structure of bean (Vicia faba L.) leaf mesophyll tissue using a non-invasive ion flux measuring technique (microelectrode ion flux estimation) and scanning electron microscopy. Quasi-periodic patterns of net H+ and K+ flux distributions were found when the mesophyll surface was scanned along the longitudinal axis with 0.1-0.2 mm increments. These patterns showed a high correlation with anatomical features of the mesophyll tissue (i.e. the distribution of vascular bundles). The observed flux profiles were not time-dependent, showed qualitative similarity in both light and dark conditions, and resulted in heterogeneous plant physiological responses. The possible physiological role of the observed findings, specifically in relation to stomatal 'patchiness' and phloem loading mechanisms, is discussed. © 2002 Annals of Botany Company.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Plant biology
Research Field:	Plant physiology
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences
UTAS Author:	Shabala, SN (Professor Sergey Shabala)
UTAS Author:	Koutoulis, LJ (Dr Lisa Schimanski)
UTAS Author:	Koutoulis, A (Professor Anthony Koutoulis)
ID Code:	24594
Year Published:	2002
Web of Science® Times Cited:	26
Deposited By:	Agricultural Science
Deposited On:	2002-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-09-20
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