Nitrate influx and efflux by intact wheat seedlings: Effects of prior nitrate nutrition

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Abstract
Wheat (Triticum vulgare L., cv. Blueboy) seedlings, grown with 0.25, 1.0 and 15 mM nitrate in complete nutrient solutions, were transferred 10 days after germination to 1.0 mM K15NO3 (∼99 A% 15N) plus 0.1 mM CaSO4 at pH 6.0. The solutions were replaced periodically over a 6-h period (5 mW cm-2; 23°). Changes in the [15N]- and [14N]nitrate in the solution were determined by nitrate reductase and mass-spectrometric procedures and potassium by flame photometry. Influx of [15N]nitrate was depressed in plants grown at 1.0 mM nitrate relative to those grown at 0.25 mM, but there was no appreciably difference in [14N]nitrate efflux. Prior growth at 15 mM further restricted [15N]nitrate influx which, together with a substantial increase in [14N]nitrate efflux, resulted in no net nitrate uptake during the course of the experiment. Efflux of [14N]nitrate occurred to solutions containing no nitrate but it was significantly enhanced upon exposure to [15N]nitrate in the external solution. Influx of [15N]nitrate was more restricted at 5°, relative to 23°, than was [14N]nitrate efflux. The nitrate concentrations of the root tissue immediately before exposure to the K15NO3 solutions did not give a precise indication of the subsequent [15N]nitrate influx rates nor of the [14N]nitrate efflux rates. Net K+ uptake was related to the magnitude of the net nitrate uptake, not to the initial K+ concentration in the roots. The data are interpreted as indicating that [15N]nitrate influx and [14N]nitrate efflux are largely independent processes, subject to different controls, and that net nitrate uptake provides the driving force for net potassium uptake.