Cell wall yield properties of growing tissue : evaluation by in vivo stress relaxation

Growing pea stem tissue, when isolated from an external supply of water, undegoes stress relaxation because of continued loosening of the cell wall. A theoretical analysis is presented to show that such stress relaxation should result in an exponential decrease in turgor pressure down to the yield threshold (Y), with a rate constant given by phiepsilon where phi is the metabolically maintained irreversible extensibility of the cell wall and epsilon is the volumetric elastic modulus of the cell. This theory represents a new method to determine phi in growing tissues.Stress relaxation was measured in pea (Pisum sativus L.) stem segments using the pressure microprobe technique. From the rate of stress relaxation, phi of segments pretreated with water was calculated to be 0.08 per megapascal per hour while that of auxin-pretreated tissue was 0.24 per megapascal per hour. These values agreed closely with estimates of phi made by a steady-state technique. The yield threshold (0.29 megapascal) was not affected by auxin. Technical difficulties with measuring phi by stress relaxation may arise due to an internal water reserve or due to changes in phi subsequent to excision. These difficulties are discussed and evaluated.A theoretical analysis is also presented to show that the tissue hydraulic conductance may be estimated from the T((1/2)) of tissue swelling. Experimentally, pea stems had a swelling T((1/2)) of 2.0 minutes, corresponding to a relative hydraulic conductance of about 2.0 per megapascal per hour. This value is at least 8 times larger than phi. From these data and from computer modeling, it appears that the radial gradient in water potential which sustains water uptake in growing pea segments is small (0.04 megapascal). This means that hydraulic conductance does not substantially restrict growth. The results also demonstrate that the stimulation of growth by auxin can be entirely accounted for by the change in phi.