CH.

10 FORMS AND FUNCTIONS IN PLANTS

LONG QUESTION ANSWERS
Q1. Write in detail about gaseous exchange in plants.

Gaseous Exchange in plants:

 All plants exchange gases for respiration as well photosynthesis. The process of respiration
occurs constantly day and night as for in all living cells of plants.
 Oxygen is being continually absorbed whereas carbon dioxide is liberated.
 During photosynthesis intake of carbon dioxide take place through the stomata and
lenticels, while oxygen is liberated during this process photosynthesis occur during day
time and in chlorophyll containing cells only.
 Gaseous exchange in unicellular organism and lower plants especially in the aquatic ones,
takes place by diffusion across a moist cell membrane and wet body surface respectively.
 Leaves are the main sites of gaseous exchange. There are two types of leaf monofacial and
bifacial.
 Once the air gets inside the plant, movement of oxygen is determined by the diffusion
gradients that exist in the intercellular air spaces. In this way oxygen travels towards the
cell and dissolves moisture present on the surface of cell. From here oxygen passes by
diffusion into the cells themselves.
 Carbon dioxide leaves the plant by the same pathway but in the reverse direction. The
whole situation becomes more complex in photosynthesizing parts.
 Plants perform photosynthesis and respiration both during the day, but in night only
respiration does occur, so methodology of gaseous exchange is different in day and night.
 During day the rate of photosynthesis is much higher than the respiration, concentration of
carbon dioxide release during respiration is very low which does not meet the requirements
of photosynthesis. Plants obtain required carbon dioxide for photosynthesis from
environment; In the same way the oxygen released during photosynthesis is much more
than the requirements of respiration so plants released it from its body.
Q2. Write a detail note on Transport in plants.

Transport in plants:
Every living cell require mechanism to transport raw materials to support living metabolic
activities. Plants attain these processes by the help of some specialized structures. These are of two
types:
1. Xylem
2. Phloem
Movement of water and solutes takes place through Xylem and mass flow transport of sugar
through Phloem, Both Xylem and Phloem are structurally related with their functions.

1. Xylem:
Xylem is a complex tissue consisting of four types of cells in angiosperm out of them two are
water conducting cells. These are open ended cells called vessels and porous cells called trachieds.

Vessels:

 Vessels are thick wall tube like structures which extend through several feet of Xylem
tissues.
 Xylem vessels arrive from cylindrical cells, which are placed end to end. At maturity, the
end walls of these cells are dissolved and cytoplasmic contents die. Thus a continuous duct
is formed which offers a better route for long distance transport of water from roots upto
leaves.
 They range in diameter from 0.2 mm to as much as 0.7 mm.
 Their walls are lignified and perforated by pits. At the pit lignin is not deposited and cell
wall is thin made up of cellulose. The pits match up with pits of adjacent cells so that cell
cavities are connected to adjacent cells cavities.
 The rate of flow of water in vessels is 10 times faster than trachieds. Vessels are mostly
found in flowering plants.

Trachieds:

 Trachieds are unusual cells about 0.3 mm in diameter and several mm in length.
 They can be distinguished from vessels by their angular walls and smaller size.
 They taper at each end and taper ends of one cell overlap taper ends of other cells, like
xylem vessels they are dead with thick lignified walls.
 Their walls are perforated by small holes called pits which are of two types; simple and
bordered.
 The pits in the cross walls connect upper trachieds with lower one. Through these pits water
and minerals flow freely from one trachied to another.
 Found in all tracheophytes except angiosperm, trachieds are the only water conducting
ducts.
2. Phloem:
Phloem consists of four types of cells
i. Sieve tube elements
ii. Companion cells
iii. Phloem fiber
iv. Phloem parenchyma
Principle kinds of cells responsible for food transportation are as follows:

Sieve tube elements:

 Sieve tubes are the long tube like structures that transport photosynthetic products
throughout the plants.
 They are formed by the end to end fusion of cells called sieve tube elements. Sieve tube
elements have a very distinctive structure.
 Their walls are made of cellulose and pectic substances, their nuclei degenerate and are
lost as they mature and the cytoplasm becomes confined to a thin layer around the periphery
of the cell.
 They have thin primary cell wall that connect adjacent cells by their ends. They have
perforation in their transvers wall, which look like the holes in a sieve.
 A conspicuous and characteristics feature of sieve tubes is the sieve plate. This is derived
from the two adjoining end walls of neighboring sieve elements.

Companion cells:

 In flowering plants, each sieve cell is associated with a specialized parenchyma cell a
companion.
 The two cells together form a functional unit.

 Companion cells retain all their cytoplasmic contents and have a well- developed
endoplasmic reticulum with a large dense nucleus.
 The function of the companion cell is to control the activity of the sieve cell.
Q3: Define ascent of sap. How plants take up water and minerals from the soil and how its
transported to different parts of plant body.

Ascent of Sap:
“The upward movement of water and salts from the roots towards the leaves against the force of
gravity is known as ascent of sap.”

Water and minerals uptake by root:

Absorption of water and minerals salts takes place
through root system. Roots are provided by
enormous number of tiny root hairs which are
outgrowths of epidermal cells and found at the root
tip.
Lateral transport: Most of the absorption takes
place near the root tip where epidermis is
permeable to water and root hairs. From root hairs
and epidermal cells, water flows through cortex into
endodermis, pericycle and enters xylem. Since
transport of water takes place in radial direction it is
also termed as lateral transport.
Pathways of Lateral Transport:
Three path ways are available for water to enter xylem.

1. Cellular Pathway:
The first route is from cell to cell. Water enters the root hairs or epidermal cell down a gradient of
water potential. It flows out of one cell across the cell wall, cell membrane vacoule and enters the
adjacent cell which may again pass the substance along the next cell in the path way. This is known
as cellular path way.

2. Symplast Pathway:
The second path way is symplast. Through the pores in the cell walls, cytoplasm of cortical cell
remains connected with cytoplasm of adjoining cortical cells. These cytoplasmic connections
through pores are known as plasmodesmata.

3. Apoplast Pathway:
The third pathway is apoplast. The cell walls of epidermal cells and that of cortical cells form a
continuous matrix. These walls are hydrophilic. Soil solution flows freely through hydrophilic
walls of epidermal and cortical cells. This movement of soil solution through extracellular pathway
provide by continuous matrix of cell walls is known as apoplastic pathway.
As solutes move along extracellular pathway some of the water and solutes are taken up by the
cells of cortex thus changing the route from apoplast to symplast.
Water and minerals cannot cross the endodermis and enter xylem via apoplast (extracellular
pathway) due to presence of Casparian strip. Simplast is the only way to cross the barrier.
Endodermal cells actively transport salts to pericycle resulting in high concentration of salts. From
pericycle water flows into Xylem both via symplast and apoplast.

Movement of water in Xylem:

  Plants use only 1-2% of absorbed water for photosynthesis, remaining amount is lost by
transpiration through aerial parts of plant body.
 This upward movement of water from absorptive surface (roots) up to transpiring
surface(leaves) against the downward pull of gravity is known as ascent of sap.
 The upward movement of water from roots upto leaves takes place through xylem depend
upon two factors. These are transpiration pull and physical properties of water i.e., adhesion
and cohesion.
Transpiration Pull (Adhesion-Cohesion Theory)/ Dixon Theory:
This theory was put forward by Dixon and its also called as Adhesion-Cohesion tension
Theory. According to this theory:
“During transpiration, water evaporates from intercellular spaces of the leaves. This
generates a strong suction force at the top of which body pulls the water column to the top
of the trees. Strong cohesive forces exist between water molecules and thus a long and
continuous water column from root to the leaves is formed. This force is strong enough
than tension force, so this force can withstand the frictional and gravitational forces.”
 Transpiration pull results chain of events that starts when leaves begin to absorb solar
radiation in the morning.
 Sunlight raises temperature of leaves, so the water begins to evaporate from moist walls of
mesophyll cells.
 The evaporated water is immediately replaced from water inside the cell which is replaced
with water from neighboring cell deeper in the leaf.
 Ultimately, water is pulled from xylem to meet the loss of water. Thus, water in xylem is
placed under tension which is transmitted to root through vessels.
 This downward transmission of tension is because of cohesive property of water columns
in vessels and trachieds. Water column moves upward by mass flow due to transpiration
pull.
 Adhesion of water molecules is responsible to move water to hydrophilic walls of Xylem
cells. Small diameter of vessels and trachieds are important factors in overcoming the force
of gravity.
Q4: How Organic solutes translocate? Explain with reference of Ernest Munch hypothesis.

Translocation of organic solutes (phloem translocation):

The product of photosynthesis moves from mature leaves to the growing and storage organs of
plants. The direction of transport is determined by the relative locations of the sources and sinks
of photosynthates. This movement of photoassimilates and other organic materials take place via
the Phloem, and is therefore called Phloem Translocation. Transport occurs through specialized
tissues called Sieve elements.

Source-sink movement:
The translocation of photosynthates always takes place from source to sink tissues, therefore, this
Phloem transport is also referred as source- to-sink movement. Source are those tissues which
produce photoassimilate more than their needs and sink are those tissues which-produce
photoassimilates less than they need or do not produce photoassimilates, like the mesophyll cells
all of middle parts of leaves are source and the fruits, seeds or roots are sink.

 First, the synthesized sucrose moves from the mesophyll cells of leaves towards the sieve-
tubes and covers a short distance. This is called Short-distance transport.
 Now the sucrose is actively transported into the sieve tubes of phloem and this is called
Phloem loading.
 Finally, the sucrose reaches the storage area (sink) on covering the long distance, and this
is called Long-distance transport.
 Now sucrose enters into the sink for metabolism and this is called Phloem Unloading.

Munch Hypothesis:
This theory was proposed by Munch and it is also called Pressure flow hypothesis and Mass
flow hypothesis. According to this theory:
"Food migrates from leaves to the roots and other storing parts in a flow which is called Mass
Flow."

 When the leaves manufacture food by the process of photosynthesis their osmotic pressure
increases. So, the mesophyll cells get water from the neighboring cells.
 So, a high turgor pressure is developed in the mesophyll cells. These cells are connected
with each other and with the sieve-tubes through plasmodesmata.
 These pores help in diffusion of manufactured food from the region of high turgor pressure
(leaves) to the region of low turgor pressure (roots and stems). i.e. into the sieve tube.
 In this way, a flow of water and dissolved organic solutes occurs in the phloem from upper
region to lower region. Therefore, it is known as Mass flow or Bulk flow.
Q5: Write in detail how osmotic adjustment occurs in plants and their types on the basis of
different habitat.
OR Q: Discuss characterization of plants based on osmotic adjustment?

Homeostasis in plants:
Changing in environmental conditions are the big threat for plants and cause severe stresses on
them. Plants cope these stresses by adaptation or adjustment that enables them to survive in the
stressful condition. They require metabolism to maintain internal condition of plant. This set of
metabolic function is called homeostasis. Osmoregulation is one of the important aspects of
homeostasis. It involves maintaining a balance between water and solute contents of cells. The
adaptations that plants made to adjust the water and ion balance is termed as osmotic adjustment.
Depending upon the availability of water to flowering plants in their natural habitat they are
grouped into four categories:
i. Hydrophytes
ii. Halophytes
iii. Mesophytes
iv. Xerophytes

Hydrophytes:

 The plants which are found in fresh water habitat either partly or completely submerged
are termed as hydrophytes, they don’t have any difficulty in obtaining water.
 The stems and leaves of hydrophytes generally lack cuticle in partially submerged
hydrophytes.
 Stem is cylindrical and spongy; stomata are restricted on the upper surface of leaves. e.g.,
Water Lilly.
 In completely submerged hydrophytes (such as Hydrilla) roots are poorly developed. Stem
is soft, spongy weak and cylindrical. Internally the cortex contains large air cavities, these
tissues are called aerenchyma.

Halophytes:

 The plants growing in salt marshes close to sea are termed as Halophytes.
 They have to absorb water from such a soil which has higher salt concentration therefore
they have lower water potential (higher osmotic pressure).
 Halophytes cope with this situation by roots develop lower water potential which brings in
water by osmosis.
 The excess salt can be stored in cells or excreted out from salt glands on the leaves.
 The salt thus secreted by some species help them to trap water vapors from the air which
is being absorbed in liquid from by leaf cells therefore this is another way for obtaining
additional water from the air.
 Some of the examples of halophytes are glasswort, cord-grass. etc.

Mesophytes:

 These are most of the land plants of temperate zones, which grow in well watered soil.
 They can easily compensate the water lost by transpiration through absorbing water from
the soil to prevent excessive transpiration they have developed a water proof external
covering called cuticle.
 In Mesophytes root system is well developed. Stem is erect and branched. Leaves are
generally large size.
 The dorsoventral leaf (dicot) contains more stomata in the lower epidermis while upper
epidermis has very less number of stomata.
 Isobilateral leaf (monocot) contains stomata more or less equal in numbers both in upper
and lower epidermis.

Xerophytes:
  Plants living in dry places such as deserts, steep hills and high altitude have to face scarcity
of water they are termed as xerophytes.
 Under such condition water potential xerophytes of soil and air are very low.
 The xerophytes have developed adaptations to conserve water and to survive during
drought condition.
 They have adapted to form seeds or spores by conserving their cytoplasm in a well-
protected hard coats, helps them to save their progeny for considerable period of time.
 Adaptations for balance between transpiration and water uptake is done by developing very
deep vertical roots for the better absorption of water from the soil as seen in acacia, banyan
etc.
 Other plants such as cacti have superficial horizontal roots which can absorb water before
it evaporates from the soil.
 Reduction in number of stomata, sunken type of stomata development of hairy epidermis,
folding of leaves, reduction in size of lamina and modification into spines are some the
adaptations for reducing rate of transpiration.
 Some plants store water in larger parenchymatous cells present in stem or leaves. Such
plants are termed as succulents.
Q6: Give a detail account on types of tissues that are responsible to provide support in plants.

Support in plants:
Young stem has special types of anatomical arrangement, which also helps in supporting plant.
The outermost layer of thin walled cells. Called epidermis. Region beneath epidermis is generally
called cortex and the central portion called stele, which is mainly consist of vascular tissues and
some soft tissues. This types of stem depends for its mechanical support in the following tissues:
1. Thin wall parenchyma-having turgidity.
2. Thick walled living tissues like collenchyma and dead tissues like sclerenchyma.
3. Stele the cylindrical core of vascular bundle.

Parenchyma:

 A kind of simple tissue found in epidermis, cortex and pith.

 These are relatively unspecialized vegetative cells. The whole body of lower plants
(bryophytes) is made up of these tissues.
 They usually have thin primary walls but no secondary walls.
 They have a large central vacuole surrounded by a peripheral layer of cytoplasm.
 They are loosely packed with intercellular spaces in leaves and green herbaceous stems.
 They contain chloroplasts therefore photosynthesis largely occurs in these cells.
 They take in water by endosmosis and become extended, this extended parenchyma is
turgid, exert an internal pressure called turgor pressure. Due to this pressure these parts
remain firm and rigid.
  If these cells loose water, they also loses turgidity, which causes wilting in herbaceous
stems and leaves. Therefore, this turgid parenchyma is important for support and shape of
soft plant.

Collenchyma:

 Another type of simple tissue, which is important to provide support in plants.

 They are also living tissues, more elongated structurally similar to parenchyma except their
walls and irregularly thickened.
 The thickened area is usually more prominent at edges.
 They function as an important supporting tissue in young plants, in the stem of non-woody
older plants and in leaves.

Sclerenchyma:

 Another type of supporting tissue.

 They are simple fundamental dead tissues.
 They have uniform thickness, heavily lignified secondary walls, which give strength to the
plant body.
 Often these walls are so thick that the lumen of the cells become nearly vanished.
Sclerenchyma cells are of two types, fibers and sclereids.
Fibers: are elongated cells with tapered ends. They are tough and strong but flexible.
Sclereids: are variable, often irregular in shape. The simple unbranched sclereids are generally
called stone cells, they are common in nut and hard parts of the seeds.
Some other kinds of hard tissues are as follows:
Trachieds: are elongated tubular heavily lignified dead cells having large hollow cavities. They
have oblique transverse walls making trachieds spindle shaped. They are found in xylem acting as
supporting tissue in addition to transport of water and dissolved organic salts.
Vessels (trachea): are like trachieds but have no transverse walls and placed end to end forming a
structure like open water pipeline. They are also found in xylem acting like trachieds.
Q7: what are growth regulators? Name and discuss five in detail.

Plant hormones/growth regulators:

Certain chemicals produced by plants have a profound effect on their subsequent growth and
development. Such chemicals are called plant hormones or phytohormones.
There are five kinds of plant hormones. These are:
i. Auxins
ii. Gibberellins
ii. Cytokinins
iv. Abscisic acid
V. Ethene

1. Auxins:

 Auxins is a class of plant growth substances both natural and synthetic first revealed by
Fritz-Went (1926).
 They were the first of the major plant hormones to be discovered and a major coordinating
signals in plant development.
 Natural: Indole-acetic acid (IAAL the principal type of auxin of higher plants, synthesized
at the apices of stem and root (apical meristem). In addition to (IAA) other naturally
occurring auxins are: 4-chloro- Indole acetic acid, phenyl acetic acid (PAA)
and indole-3 butyric acid (184).
 Synthetic: The synthetic auxins include naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 2 dichloro-
phenoxy acetic acid (2, 4-D) and others.

Role of Auxins:
(a) Cell division and cell- enlargement:
It stimulates cell division, cell enlargement and brings about increase in length of plant. It
stimulates wall loosening factor, for example, elastin to loosen the cell-wall.
If Gibberellins are also present, the effect is stronger. It also stimulates cell-division if cytokinins
are present.Xylem tissues can be generated when the auxin concentration is equal to the cytokinins.
(b) Initiation of roots:
Auxin also initiates development of adventitious roots when applied at the cut base of stem.
(c) Abscission:
In mature leaves and fruits when auxin production diminishes, a layer of thin walled cells is formed
at the base of petiole and stalk of fruit. This layer is called abscisic layer and causes fall of leaves
and fruit with slight jerk.
(d) Growth of fruit:
Auxin is responsible for cell division, the tissues of ovary initiate to divide by auxin and the ovary
enlarge to develop this process is called fruit setting.
(e) Parthenocarpy:
Use of auxin also helps in producing parthenocarpic or seedless fruits.
(f) Apical dominance:
Besides growth promoting function, auxin also has inhibitory effect on growth. Growth of apical
bud inhibits growth of lateral buds beneath the stem. This phenomenon is termed as apical
dominance. Removal of apical bud initiates growth of lateral buds with more leaves and axillary
buds.
(g) Weedicide:
Auxins are selective weed killer. 2-4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2-4- D) is used to kill weeds in
lawns and cereal crops.
(h) Flowering:
Auxin plays a minor role in the initiation of flowering. It can delay the senescence of flowers in
low concentrations.

2. Gibberellins:

 It is a group of chemicals that promote cell division and cell elongation.

 First noticed in Gibberella fujikurai fungus, which infected rice seedlings and produced a
disease called bakanae (foolish seedling).
 T. Yabuta and T. Hayashi succeeded in isolating the active substance from the fungus and
was named Gibberellin.
 Its ability to induce growth attracted the scientists who have isolated 70 different types of
Gibberellin, many of them occur naturally in higher plants. Major sites of their production
are roots, stem and leaves.

Role of Gibberellin:
Gibberellin produces wide variety of effects.

 Like auxin is to stimulate cell division and cell elongation it prevents genetical and
physiological dwarfism.
 They also mobilize food stored in endosperm by producing enzyme (amylase) that converts
starch into sugar which is made available to developing embryo.
 They also stimulate flowering, fruits development, bud sprouting, growth of pollen tube
and parthenocarpy.

3. Cytokinins:

 These are a group of substances both natural and synthetic, which react with auxin to
induce cell division.
 Originally obtained from coconut milk, the other sources are Herring sperm DNA and
yeast extract.
 Natural: One of the naturally occurring cytokinin is zeatin, which was obtained in pure
crystalline form from immature corn grains.
  Synthetic: Kinetin, a synthetic cytokinin has the same effect as that of zeatin.
Role of cytokinin:
They initiate rapid cell division but only in presence of auxin. They also cause delayed
senescence (old age). Detached leaves which would normally lose chlorophyll are prevented
from becoming decolourized by their application. They also break seed dormancy and promote
fruit development in some species.

4. Abscisic acid:

 In contrast to growth promoting hormones like auxin, gibberellins and cytokinins, abscisic
acid (ABA) is growth inhibitor.
 It is produced by plant during adverse environmental conditions such as drought condition
and at the onset of winter.
Role of Abscisic acid:
It induces dormancy in buds and seeds, causes stomata to close, turns leaf into scale which protects
the buds and promotes senescence.

5.Ethene:

 The most important role of ethene (a gas), is that it triggers ripening of fruit.
 It affects permeability of cell membrane, which allows enzymes responsible for destroying
chloroplast with the result that red and yellow colours are unmasked and fruit assumes
ripened colour.
 It contributes to leaf abscission and also breaks dormancy of buds and seeds in some
species.
 It also initiates flowering in some plants e.g. pineapple.

Q8: What do you know about movement in plants? Also write about types of movement in
detail.

Movement in plants:
All living organisms have the property of movement to fulfill the need of their nutrition, protection,
shelter and reproduction. Movement is defined as any action taken by living organism to reduce
its irritability produce by stimuli. Plants are usually sessile which respond to environmental factors
by adjusting their pattern of growth, development and turgor pressure.
Types of movement in plants:
On the basis of stimuli there are two main types of movement found in plants.
1. Autonomic or Spontaneous movement cause by internal stimuli
2. Paratonic or Induced Movement caused by external stimuli

Paratonic or induced movement

Movements which occur due to external stimuli are known as induced or paratonic movements.
They may be tropic or nastic. The external stimuli which cause these movements may be light,
temperature, water, chemicals, gravity etc.

Tropic movement: (Directional movement)

Tropism or tropic movement are growth responses that result in curvatures of whole plant organs
towards or away from stimuli.
Movement caused due to external stimuli coming from one side, controlled by the direction of
stimulus, respond in the form of growth of curvature in one direction called tropic movement. It is
commonly found in radially symmetrical organs of plant such as root and stem. On the basis of
stimuli following are the types of tropic movement found in plants.
Phototropism:
It is a curvature movement that takes place when plant is exposed to light coming only from one
direction. If this curvature movement is towards the source of light called positive photo tropism
and if away from the source flight called negative phototropism. Phototropism curvature is due to
light defect on the distribution of auxin (plant growth promoting hormone)
Geotropism:
It is the movement caused in response to gravitational stimulus. Positive geotropism is observed
in the primary roots of many plants and negative geotropism in their shoot.
Chemotropism:
Chemotropism is the movement caused due to chemical for example pollen tube grows through
the style towards ovule due to chemical stimulus.
Hydrotropism:
The movement of plant organs in response of water stimulus called hydrotropic movement. This
also result in curvature of the organs due to unequal growth on its two sides. Roots are positively
hydrotropic.
Thigmotropism:
Thigmotropism is the curvature movement of plant in response to touch stimulus. It can be
observed in twiner and climbers. When they touch the solid object the growth on the opposite side
of contact increases and they coiled around the support.