Permeability of the suberized mestome sheath in winter rye

Mestome sheath cells of winter rye (Secale cereale L. cv Puma) deposit suberized lamellae in their secondary cell walls. Histochemical tests including acid digestion and staining with Sudan IV and Chelidonium majus root extract were used to detect the presence of suberin in the primary cell wall. There was no evidence of a Casparian band between adjacent mestome sheath cells. Fluorescent dye techniques were used to trace solute movement through the rye leaf apoplast. Calcofluor white M2R, a fluorescent dye which binds to cell walls as it moves apoplastically, proved to be too limited in its mobility in leaves to test mestome sheath permeability. Trisodium 3-hydroxy-5,8,10 pyrene trisulfonate, a fluorescent dye which is mobile in the apoplast, moved easily up the vascular bundles in the transpiration stream, and diffused outward from the veins to the epidermal cell walls within minutes of reaching a particular level in the leaf. We conclude that the suberized mestome sheath of rye leaves is freely permeable to solutes moving apoplastically through radial primary cell walls.