The effect of potassium and calcium on wood formation and xylem/phloem physology

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Ions play a fundamental role in the physiology of cambial growth. To gain better knowledge about the role of K, Ca and P in wood formation, we intend to focus on plants grown under different K, Ca and P supply as well as on transgenic plants with modified ion transporter expression produced by P5 and/or P3. Two approaches will be applied on all differently treated plants in this project. First, structural and ultrastructural analysis of stem tissues (phloem, cambium, xylem) will be carried out throughout all seasons by image analysis and high resolution TEM. In order to correlate structural changes to biochemical variations, a second approach deals with the following analysis in all tissues: Seasonal changes of K, Ca and P will be measured by EDXA, whereas K and Ca will also be determined quantitatively by atomic absorption spectrometry. By generating antibodies against different potassium transporters we further will show their distribution in poplar stem tissues throughout all seasons by fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy. In order to correlate changes in ion content to sugar concentrations, seasonal variations of different sugars as well as starch will be determined enzymatically. To measure changes in the chemical composition of cell walls, FTIR-spectroscopy will be used to quantitatively detect a range of functional groups in the cell wall.