A review on water transport in xylem of vascular plants and its affecting factors

The mechanism of water transport in vascular plants is one of the most important topics in plant research. As a long-distance-transport tissue in vascular plants, xylem provides a low re- sistance pathway for water movement from root to leaf. Since the xylem is a structural network of interconnected conduits, altered network structure of xylem following the changes in abiotic fac- tors (e.g. water stress, nitrogen deposition, light, etc.) directly affects the dynamics of water transport in plants. Based on the review of driving force and microstructure for xylem water trans- port, up-to-date understanding of the mechanism of xylem water transport was briefly summarized in this paper, and the direct and indirect impacts of abiotic factors on the xylem water transport were also discussed. Finally, a promising observation technique for xylem network structure was introduced and further studies on the interaction of various factors in xylem water transport were suggested.