Unit 3:

Transport and Translocation of

Water and Solutes
Water and Plant Cells
Water Potential
Water Movement Between Cells
 Water and Plant Cells
Water in Plant Life
• 500 gram
• Each cell contains large water- filled vacuoles
• Cytoplasm makes 5% up to 10% of cell volume
• Water typically constitutes:
 80 to 95% of the mass of growing plant
tissues
Wood (sapwood) 35% to 70%
Seed 5% to !5%
Specially made for Plant cell
Cell wall allow plant cells to build up large
internal hydrostatic pressures called Turgor
pressure
Turgor Pressure is essential for :
 cell enlargement
 Gas exchange in the leaves
 transport in the phloem
 and various transport processes across
membranes
 Water as a solvent
• Medium for movement within and between
cell.
• greatly influences the structure of proteins,
nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and other cell
constituent
 During the plant’s lifetime, water equivalent
to 100 times the fresh weight of the plant may
be lost through the leaf surfaces. Such water
loss is called Transpiration.
• water lost by the plant evaporates from the
leaf as the CO2
• leaf will exchange up to 100% of its water in a
single hour
The Structure and Properties of Water
• Polar molecule that forms hydrogen bond
1. Good solvent
2. Cohesive properties- attraction to same
molecules
3. Adhesive properties- attraction to unlike
molecules
 Water Potential
• Water potential is the potential energy of
water in a system compared to pure water,
when both temperature and pressure are kept
the same.
• Psi (Ψ).
 Water Potential Formula
• Ψsystem = Ψtotal = Ψs + Ψp + Ψg + Ψm
• where
• Ψs = solute potential
• Ψp, = pressure potential
• Ψg, = gravity potential
• Ψm = matric potential
Or Ψ = ΨS + ΨP
 Water Potential con’t.
• Solute potential depends on the amount of solute in a
solution, and it decreases as the concentration of
solute increases.
• The Pressure potential refers to the physical pressure
exerted by objects or cell membranes on water
molecules, and it increases with increasing pressure.
• Gravitational potential is the way earth’s gravity
influences the freedom of water molecules to move.
• Matric potential takes into account forces between
water molecules and surfaces or substances, such as
soil or cell membranes.
Solute Potential
Van’t Hoff equation:
Example:
• Consider an open beaker full of pure water at
20°C (fig.A)
Note: In pure water the water potential is always
zero.
Situation B and C
Situation D and E
Water Movement Between Cells
Water Movement Between Cells

• The cell membrane functions as a semi-

permeable barrier, allowing a very few
molecules across it while fencing the majority
of organically produced chemicals inside the
cell.
 Water Movement Between Cells
• Water can cross plant membranes by diffusion
of individual water molecules through the
membrane bilayer, as shown on the left, and
by microscopic bulk flow of water molecules
through a water-selective pore formed by
integral membrane proteins such as
aquaporins.
 What is Aquaporin?
• A membrane protein pores that facillitate
water movement across lipid bilayer of
membranes
 Diffusion
• Net Movement of molecules from high
concentration to low concentration, down a
concentration gradient.
Pressure-Driven Bulk Flow (Mass Flow)
• Movement of a large number of molecules in
mass that is driven by pressure.
Example: A pressure driven movement of water
through a garden hose.
 Osmosis
• Osmosis is the net movement of water across
a selectively permeable membrane driven by a
difference in solute concentrations on the two
sides of the membrane
 Tonicity
• The tonicity of a solution is related to its effect
on the volume of a cell.
• Isotonic -The solutions being compared have
equal concentration of solutes.
• Hypertonic: The solution with the higher
concentration of solutes.
• Hypotonic: The solution with the lower
concentration of solutes.
• Diffusion of water across a membrane
generates a pressure called osmotic pressure
• If the pressure in the compartment into which
water is flowing is raised to the equivalent of
the osmotic pressure, movement of water will
stop. This pressure is often called hydrostatic
('water-stopping') pressure. generates a
pressure called osmotic pressure.
Pssssttttttt....
Knock! KnocK!....
Thank you