BIO 49 LECTURE ASSIGNMENT 3

(November 4, 2020)

Name: Iwag, Niña Shanen Y. Score: ____________________

Schedule: TTH (08:30-10:00)

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
i. Write your answers immediately after every question. Write in 1-5 sentences only. Any
excess is 0.5 pt. deduction. You may tabulate your answers as needed.
ii. Indent the beginning of your paragraph.
iii. Upload your answers in pdf format. Do not forget to turn in your answers.

1. What is plant mineral nutrition? (1 pt.)

Roots absorb mineral nutrients in the form of their salts dissolved in soil water. The study
of absorption of inorganic mineral elements and their assimilation by plants is called mineral
nutrition.

2. What are essential and trace elements? (2 pts)

Essential element is any chemical element required by an organism for healthy growth. It
may be required in large amounts (macronutrient) or in very small amounts (trace element). On
the other hand, trace elements (or trace metals) are minerals present in living tissues in small
amounts. Some of them are known to be nutritionally essential, others may be essential (although
the evidence is only suggestive or incomplete), and the remainder are considered to be
nonessential.

3. Tabulate the essential and trace elements, their functions and deficiency symptoms. (10
pts)
Elements
Function Deficiency Symptoms
Essential Elements
Stunted growth. Plants take up less
Backbone of most plant water or nutrient solution than normal.
Carbon biomolecules and needed in Cures: When carbon dioxide levels are low,
cellular respiration. plants are not able to photosynthesize
efficiently and their growth slows.
Could lead to deficiencies such
Required in photosynthesis
as chlorosis, foliage color changes,
Hydrogen and to release oxygen in
overall plant stunting and
atmosphere.
sometimes necrosis.
Plants' roots are brown and mushy rather
than white and firm. Leaves droop and are
Vital in cellular respiration
Oxygen pale green to yellow. When plants' roots are
and photosynthesis.
immersed in stagnant water, they become
oxygen deprived and develop root rot.

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Component of proteins,
Nitrogen
protoplasts and enzymes.
Component of ATP, ADP
Phosphorus
and in basal metabolism.
Important for water relations,
Potassium energy relations and cold
hardiness.
Component of proteins,
Sulfur
protoplasts and enzymes.
Required in cell structure,
Calcium cell division and cell
elongation.
Chlorophyll and enzyme
Magnesium
component.
Trace Elements
Promotes sugar translocation
and cell development and
Boron
important for growth
regulators.
Chlorine Required in photosynthesis.
Component of plant
Copper photochromes and needed in
enzyme activation.
If N is deficient in plants, the older leaves
often turn yellow-green or yellow first. As
the deficiency progresses the entire plant
yellows.
P deficiency in plants is hard to diagnose
by eye because deficiency symptoms are not
commonly visible. A phosphorus-deficient
plant is likely to be dark green but have
stunted growth.
Potassium deficiencies can be diagnosed
by looking at the older plant tissue.
Deficiencies appear along the outer margins
of older leaves as streaks or spots of yellow
(mild deficiencies) or brown (severe
deficiencies).
New plant tissue will show a sulfur
deficiency first, often turning yellow-green
or yellow.
Calcium deficiency symptoms appear
initially as localized tissue necrosis leading
to stunted plant growth, necrotic leaf
margins on young leaves or curling of the
leaves, and eventual death of terminal buds
and root tips.
Magnesium deficiencies can be
diagnosed by looking at the older plant
tissue. Deficiencies appear as “interveinal
chlorosis” in older leaves—the veins of the
leaves stay dark green while the areas
between the veins appear yellow-green,
yellow, or white.
B deficiency symptoms most often
appear on the growing tip of the plant. In B-
deficient plants, the growing tip is often
deformed.
Cl deficiency symptoms are chlorotic
leaves, leaf spots, brown edges, restricted
and highly branched root system, as well
as wilting of leaves at margins and leaf
mottling.
Copper deficiencies are most likely on
soils that contain more than 8 percent
organic matter. Typically,
the symptoms start as cupping and a
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Needed for chlorophyll
Iron synthesis, metabolism and
enzyme activation.
Required in Hill reaction-
Manganese photosystem II and enzyme
activation.
Required in nitrogen fixation
Molybdenum
and nitrogen use.
Important in iron
Nickel
metabolism.
Required in protein
Zinc breakdown and enzyme
activation.
Stimulate
the growth of plants and
Selenium
counteract heavy metals at
low doses.
Improve drought tolerance
and delay wilting and may
Silicon enhance the plant's ability to
resist micronutrient and other
metal toxicities.
Increase the amount of
antioxidant
Iodine secondary plant compounds,
making plants more resilient
to drought or salinity stress .
slight chlorosis of either the whole leaf or
between the veins of the new leaves.
Fe deficiencies first appear on younger
leaves. The characteristic deficiency
symptom is interveinal chlorosis on the
younger leaves.
Leaves to turn pale green between the
veins, with normal colored areas next to the
veins. As the deficiency progresses, the area
between the veins becomes paler, enlarges
and may brown and die.
Molybdenum is not mobile in plants, so
deficiency symptoms appear in younger
plant tissue first. Molybdenum-deficient
plants turn yellow-green to yellow. Most
Mo deficiencies occur when legumes are
grown in soils with pH values less than 5.4.
Visual symptoms typically in the old
leaves of the plants as nickel is a mobile
element. Deficiency symptoms in legumes
are exhibited as whole leaf chlorosis along
with necrotic leaf tips (caused by the
accumulation of toxic levels of urea).
Leaves discolor when the soil is deficient
in zinc and plant growth is stunted. Zinc
deficiency causes a type of leaf
discoloration called chlorosis, which causes
the tissue between the veins to turn yellow
while the veins remain green.
Plants will be stunted and may die earlier
than usual. Leaves of affected plants may
exhibit chlorosis or may dry and wither.
Silicon (Si) deficiency affects the
development of strong leaves, stems, and
roots. It also affects the formation of a thick
silicated epidermal cell layer, and makes the
rice plants susceptible to fungal and
bacterial diseases, and insect and mite pests.
In tomato, plants started to show
phytotoxicity symptoms (leaf chlorosis,
epinasty, visible wilting) at iodine salt
concentrations higher than 10 mM.
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4. What is a chelator? Give 3 examples and their specific functions. (5 pts)
Chelators are small molecules that bind very tightly to metal ions. Some chelators are
simple molecules that are easily manufactured and others are complex proteins made by living
organisms.
 Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) - an edetate and a chelating agent used in
preparing radiopharmaceuticals and has strong affinity for iron but also shows affinities for
other heavy metals, thereby is used in the treatment of iron-storage disease and poisoning
from heavy and radioactive metals.
 Dimercaprol - a metal chelating agent that is used as an antidote in arsenic, gold, lead,
mercury and other heavy metal poisoning.
 Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) - enhances the mobility within the plants of this
otherwise insoluble metal ion, allowing plants to accumulate high concentrations of Pb in
shoots.
5. Illustrate (or post a diagram) of the nitrogen cycle. (10 pts)

THE NITROGEN CYCLE

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 a. What are the microbes involved?
The bacteria involved are nitrosomonas and nitrobacter. Nitrobacter turns nitrites into nitrates;
nitrosomonas transform ammonia to nitrites. In the end, the nitrates are made into N2 gas by
denitrifying prokaryotes. Other nitrogen-fixing bacteria form symbiotic associations with plants
such as rhizobium in root-nodulated legumes, such as peas and beans.

b. In what form is nitrogen readily available for plants?

Plants absorb ammonium and nitrate during the assimilation process, after which they are
converted into nitrogen-containing organic molecules, such as amino acids and DNA but because
nitrification is so pervasive in agricultural soils, most of the nitrogen is taken up as nitrate.

c. Can plants absorb nitrogen in other forms? Why or why not?

No, because every nitrogen atom in the air is triple-bonded to another nitrogen atom to
form molecular nitrogen, N2. This triple bond is very strong and very hard to break (it takes energy
to break chemical bonds whereas energy is only released when bonds are formed). As a result,
even though nitrogen in the air is very common, it is energetically unfavorable for a plant to split
the nitrogen molecule in order to get the raw atoms that it can use. The strong triple bond of N2 also
makes it hard for molecular nitrogen to react with most other chemicals. Also, the stability and
symmetry of the nitrogen molecule makes it hard for different nitrogen molecules to bind to each
other.
6. What is soil texture? How does soil texture affect mineral nutrition? (5 pts)
Soil texture (such as loam, sandy loam or clay) refers to the proportion of sand, silt and
clay sized particles that make up the mineral fraction of the soil. Soil texture affects the soil’s ability
to retain water and nutrients. For example, sand does not hold nutrients very tightly, so as water
drains through sandy soil, it tends to carry nutrients along with it. This process, known as leaching,
carries nutrients out of the root zone and makes them unavailable to plants. Clay, on the other hand,
has the ability to attract and hold nutrients in the soil and thus fewer nutrients are lost when water
drains through clay soils.

7. Describe in detail how roots absorb minerals from the soil. (5 pts)
Mineral nutrients are absorbed by plants from the soil solution as ions. An ion is the
charged particle formed by the removal or addition of electrons to any particular atom or molecule.
The ions have two possible pathways for roots uptake: through the cell walls and intercellular
spaces and movement cell-to-cell in the symplasm. The pathway is blocked at the endodermis by
casparian bands in the cell walls. These barriers force the water and ions to move through cellular
membranes if they are to be absorbed by the root.

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