Answer:
The food manufactured
by the leaves of a plant is transported to its other parts through a kind of
tube system called phloem. The transport of food from the leaves to other parts
of the plant is called translocation. The movement of material through phloem
depends on the action of living cells called sieve tubes.
Food
molecules enter the phloem elements or cells from mesophyll cells of leaf. Once
they enter phloem, they can be transported upwards or downwards to all parts of
a plant, including roots.
This
food is transported to different parts of plant in the form of solution. Transportation
occurs mainly through sieve tubes of phloem. The end walls of sieve tubes are
connected with each other by perforated sieve plates, forming a continuous
passage from root tips to stem tips through which dissolved food substances
move freely.
The
translocation in phloem is achieved by utilizing energy. Material like sucrose
is transferred into phloem tissue using energy from ATP. This increases the
osmotic pressure of the tissue causing water to move into it. This pressure
moves the material in the phloem to tissues which have less pressure. This
allows the phloem to move material according to plant's needs.
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