Cellular pathways of source leaf phloem loading and phloem unloading in developing stems of Sorghum bicolor in relation to stem sucrose storage

Cellular pathways of phloem loading in source leaves and phloem unloading in stems of sweet <i>Sorghum bicolor</i>(L.) Moench were deduced from histochemical determinations of cell wall composition and from the relative radial mobilities of fluorescent tracer dyes exiting vascular pipelines. The cell walls of small vascular bundles in source leaves, the predicted site of phloem loading, contained minimal quantities of lignin and suberin. A phloem-loaded symplasmic tracer, carboxyfluorescein, was retained within the collection phloem, indicating symplasmic isolation. Together, these findings suggested that phloem loading in source leaves occurs apoplasmically. Lignin was restricted to the walls of protoxylem elements located in meristematic, elongating and recently elongated regions of the stem. The apoplasmic tracer, 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid, moved radially from the transpiration stream, consistent with phloem and storage parenchyma cells being interconnected by an apoplasmic pathway. The major phase of sucrose accumulation in mature stems coincided with heavy lignification and suberisation of sclerenchyma sheath cell walls restricting apoplasmic tracer movement from the phloem to storage parenchyma apoplasms. Phloem unloading at this stage of stem development followed a symplasmic route linking sieve elements and storage parenchyma cells, as confirmed by the phloem-delivered symplasmic tracer, 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid, moving radially from the stem phloem