How do plants respire?
I know that glucose is needed for plants to respire. At night, I believe starch is stored in the leaves of plants. When plants respire at night, is starch sent from the leaves to the roots? Or is starch sent from the roots all the way up to the leaves?
I don't understand where the majority of respiration occurs.
Thank you!
Comments
So there are a few parts to the answer...
Plants respire through Stoma (Stomata plural) which are basically pores in leaves that are used for gas exchange. This lets in carbon dioxide and lets out oxygen
If you are talking about Cellular Respiration, then yes Glucose plays a role - it (and other sugars) are taken into the Kreb's Cycle to make ATP (the energy that cells actually use).
As far as nighttime vs daytime - there are a few different types of photosynthesis, most plants have C3 and C4 photosynthesis where they open and close throughout the day (closing when they need to in order to keep in moisture). In CAM photosynthesis plants (like a cactus) open at night and save the carbon dioxide in an acid to use during the sunny daytime
A biochemical process whereby specific substrates are oxidized with a subsequent release of carbon dioxide, CO2. There is usually conservation of energy accompanying the oxidation which is coupled to the synthesis of energy-rich compounds, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), whose free energy is then used to drive otherwise unfavorable reactions that are essential for physiological processes such as growth. Respiration is carried out by specific proteins, called enzymes, and it is necessary for the synthesis of essential metabolites, including carbohydrates, amino acids, and fatty acids, and for the transport of minerals and other solutes between cells. Thus respiration is an essential characteristic of life itself in plants as well as in other organisms.