Sodium absorption by barley roots: role of the dual mechanisms of alkali cation transport.

Radioactively labeled Na(+) absorbed by barley roots was sequestered in an intracellular compartment or compartments ("inner" spaces) in which it was only very slowly exchangeable with exogenous Na(+). Absorption of this fraction proceeded at a constant rate for at least 1 hour.When the rate of Na(+) absorption was examined over the range of concentrations, 0.005 to 50 mm, the isotherm depicting the relation showed dual kinetics as follows. Over the range, 0.005 to 0.2 mm, a single Michaelis-Menten term describes the relation between the concentration of Na(+) and the rate of its absorption. The mechanism of Na(+) absorption operating over this range of concentrations, mechanism 1 of alkali cation transport, is severely inhibited in the presence of Ca(2+) and virtually rendered inoperative for Na(+) transport by the combined presence of Ca(2+) and K(+). The mechanism is equally effective in Na(+) transport whether Cl(-) or F(-) is the anion, but is somewhat inhibited when the anion is SO(4) (2-).Over the high range of concentrations, 0.5 to 50 mm Na(+), a second, low-affinity mechanism of Na(+) absorption comes into play. In the presence of Ca(2+) and K(+), this mechanism 2 is the only one to transport Na(+) effectively, since Na(+) absorption via mechanism 1 is virtually abolished under these conditions.Anaerobic conditions, low temperature, and the uncoupler, 2,4-dinitrophenol, inhibit Na(+) absorption both at low and high Na(+) concentrations.