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GCSE Biology · key term
A part of a plant where transported sugar is used or stored.
Used by Edexcel and OCR
Specification 6.10 · Paper 2
A part of a plant that receives sucrose to use or store, such as a growing shoot or root.
Revise: TranslocationWe call the place supplying the sucrose a source and the place receiving it a sink. A photosynthesising leaf can be a source, while a growing shoot or a root storing food can be a sink. If stored food is released for new growth, a storage organ can instead become the source and the growing shoot the sink.
Specification B2.2g · Paper 1 (Foundation), Paper 3 (Higher)
Trace each pathway when describing transport: xylem carries water and dissolved mineral ions from roots towards leaves; phloem carries sugars from a source to a sink.
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Sugars are loaded into the phloem at a source and transported to a sink, where they are used for growth or stored.
Paper 1 (Foundation), Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 3 (Higher), Paper 4 (Higher)
A place where sugars leave the phloem to be used or stored, such as a growing root.
Revise: Transpiration and Translocation ProcessesA growing root, flower or other part that uses or stores those sugars can be a sink. Translocation moves sugars dissolved in water through phloem from source to sink. Unlike the root-to-leaf journey in xylem, the direction in phloem depends on where the source and sink are; it is not always downwards.