Pathway of movement of apoplastic fluorescent dye tracers through the endodermis at the site of secondary root formation in corn (Zea mays) and broad bean (Vicia faba)

The apoplastic dyes disodium 4,4′-bis (2-sulfostyryl) biphenyl (Tinopal CBS), a fabric brightener which is bound by cellulose, and trisodium, 3-hydroxy-5,8,10-pyrene trisulfonate (PTS), which is not bound by the walls, were used to trace an apoplastic pathway into the vascular tissues of corn and broad bean roots. The endodermis prevented dye entry into the stele in most regions of roots. However, if the roots were killed prior to dye treatment both dyes entered the steles, indicating that in healthy roots the dyes were confined to the apoplast and were not toxic in the applied concentrations. The more mobile dye, PTS, appeared in the shoots of the plants following a root treatment, indicating that an apoplastic pathway into the stele does exist in the roots. Neither dye penetrated into the steles at the tips of the primary roots. The point of entry in both corn and broad bean was located along the margin of a secondary root which had recently emerged from the epidermis of the primary root. The dyes did not enter the steles of the primary roots during earlier stages of secondary root development, nor did they enter through the secondary root primordia themselves.