CARRIER-MEDIATED CATION TRANSPORT IN BARLEY ROOTS: KINETIC EVIDENCE FOR A SPECTRUM OF ACTIVE SITES

Abstract
Two transport mechanisms are implicated in the absorption of alkali cations by barley roots. In contrast to mechanism 1, mechanism 2 only becomes operative at concentrations of about 1 m[image] and higher. Unlike mechanism 1, mechanism 2 is not highly selective for K vis-a-vis Na but transports both ions. The isotherm depicting the rate of absorption of K or Na ions as a function of their external concentrations, over the range 1-50 m[image], shows several inflections which are interpreted as evidence that mechanism 2 processes a spectrum of carrier sites with different affinities for a given cation.