Efflux of sucrose from minor veins of tobacco leaves

Mature leaves import limited amounts of nutrient when darkened for prolonged periods. We tested the hypothesis that import is restricted by the apoplast-phloem loading mechanism, ie., as sucrose exits the phloem of minor veins it is retrieved by the same tissue, thus depriving the mesophyll of nutrient. When single, attached, mature leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were darkened, starch disappeared from the mesophyll cells, indicating that the supply of solute to the mesophyll was limited. Starch was synthesized in mesophyll cells of darkened tissue when sucrose was applied to the apoplast at 0.1-0.3 mM concentration. Efflux from minor veins was studied by incubating leaf discs on [(14)C]sucrose to load the minor veins and then measuring subsequent (14)C release. Efflux was rapid for the first hour and continued at a gradually decreasing rate for over 13 h. Net efflux increased when loading was inhibited by p-chloromercuribenzene-sulfonic acid, anoxia, isotope-trapping, or reduction of the pH gradient. Neither light nor potassium had a significant effect on the rate of labeled sucrose release. The site of labeled sucrose release was investigated by measuring efflux from discs in which sucrose had previously been loaded preferentially by either the minor veins or mesophyll cells. Efflux occurred primarily from minor veins.