Evidence for symplastic involvement in the radial movement of calcium in onion roots

The pathway of Ca2+ movement from the soil solution into the stele of the root is not known with certainty despite a considerable body of literature on the subject. Does this ion cross an intact, mature exodermis and endodermis? If so, is its movement through these layers primarily apoplastic or symplastic? These questions were addressed using onion (Allium cepa) adventitious roots lacking laterals. Radioactive Ca2+ applied to the root tip was not transported to the remainder of the plant, indicating that this ion cannot be supplied to the shoot through this region where the exodermis and endodermis are immature. A more mature zone, in which the endodermal Casparian band was present, delivered 2.67 nmol of Ca2+ mm(-1) treated root length d(-1) to the transpiration stream, demonstrating that the ion had moved through an intact endodermis. Farther from the root 4, a third zone in which Casparian bands were present in the exodermis as well as the endodermis delivered 0.87 nmol Ca2+ mm(-1) root length d(-1) to the transpiration stream, proving that the ion had moved through an unbroken exodermis. Compartmental elution analyses indicated that Ca2+ had not diffused through the Casparian bands of the exodermis, and inhibitor studies using La3+ and vanadate (VO43-) pointed to a major involvement of the symplast in the radial transport of Ca2+ through the endodermis. It was concluded that in onion roots, the radial movement of Ca2+ through the exodermis and endodermis is primarily symplastic.