ATP provides the energy necessary to actively transport materials like sucrose into the phloem tissue. This energy expenditure increases the osmotic pressure within the phloem, facilitating the movement of water into the tissue and aiding in the translocation process.
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ATP (adenosine triphosphate) plays a crucial role in the process of translocation in the phloem. During phloem loading, energy from ATP is required to actively transport sugars, mainly sucrose, from source cells (like photosynthetic leaf cells) into the sieve tubes of the phloem. This process involves proton pumping, where ATP is used to transport protons across cell membranes, creating a proton gradient. The energy released when protons move back into the cells is coupled with the transport of sucrose into the sieve tubes. ATP-driven proton pumping ensures the efficient loading of sugars into the phloem for subsequent long-distance transport within the plant.