This award will support collaborative research between Dr. William F. Pickard of Washington University and Dr. Peter E. H. Minchin, Physics and Engineering Laboratory, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Lower Hutt, New Zealand. The investigators intend to test the hypothesis that phloem (the principle food conducting tissur in plants) transport might be regulated by sharply dropping the temperature of the calicum channels in the phloem plasma membrane. Progress has been slow in characterizing the calcium channels in plants, and this research should help in understanding the nature and importance of these channels. The project continues collaboration of these scientists who initially discovered that momentary interruption of phloem transport was sensitive to temperature variations. The facilities of the DSIR include unique access to carbon isotopes, which will be used to monitor, in real time, transport profiles in the phloem of several plants. The research should add considerably to basic knowledge of phloem physiology. Ultimately, the results should be of agricultural significance since they relate to plant ability to withstand insect predation.
