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Question

Question: Can companion cells be associated with sieve elements?...

Can companion cells be associated with sieve elements?

Explanation

Solution

Phloem is a living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic molecules produced during photosynthesis from the leaves downward.
The components of phloem are listed below:
Companion cells — they appear to monitor the operation of the adjacent sieve element and help load and unload sugar into the sieve element.
Sieve tubes - these elongated living cells transport carbohydrates from leaves to roots and fruits, primarily sucrose.
Phloem fibres are commercially valuable because of their flexibility and tensile strength.
Phloem parenchyma, also known as transfer cells, are situated near the finest branches, at the extremities of sieve tubes in leaf veinlets, and are involved in food transport.

Complete answer:
Companion cells and sieve elements are inextricably related. The phloem of blooming plants contains these cells. A sieve element is shown to be tightly related to each of these companion cells. Due to the existence of plasmodesmata, they remain intact and attached to the sieve cells. It aids in the loading of the phloem sieve cells, as well as suggestion, through the phenomenon of active transport.
Phloem is a living tissue that helps plants transfer organic compounds to all areas of their bodies. Conducting cells, parenchyma cells, and supporting cells are the three types of cells that make up phloem. In phloem, conducting cells are sieve tubes that transfer sugar to various sections of the plant. One of the types of parenchyma cells is companion cells. The sieve tube's function is determined by the companion cells, as the companion cells perform all of the sieve tube's functions. The companion cells' cytoplasm connects the sieve tube to the companion cells. Between them, there are Plasmodesmata.

Note:
The sieve components of the phloem are elongated, narrow cells that are linked to form the sieve tube structure. In plants, sieve element cells are the most highly specialised cell type. They are remarkable in that they do not have a nucleus at maturity and are also devoid of organelles such as ribosomes, cytosol, and the Golgi apparatus, allowing them to maximise the amount of space available for material translocation.
The ‘sieve member', which is found in angiosperms, and the more primitive ‘sieve cells', which are found in gymnosperms, are the two primary varieties of sieve element; both are derived from a common ‘mother cell’.