Question

Water and minerals can follow three pathways to the vascular tissue of the root. Describe the three pathways.

Answer 1

The answer is the apoplast, the symplast, and the transmembrane pathway.

1. The apoplast pathway occurs through cell walls and space between cells. So, water does not cross any cell membrane as it travels this pathway.

2. The symplast pathway occurs through the continuum of cytoplasm. So, water travels through plasmodesmata which connect cells.

3. The transmembrane pathway occurs across cell membranes. So, water enters the cell on one side of the membrane and exits on the other.