Diurnal periodicity of assimilate transport shapes resource allocation and whole‐plant carbon balance

Summary Whole‐plant carbon balance comprises diurnal fluctuations of photosynthetic carbon gain and respiratory losses, as well as partitioning of assimilates between phototrophic and heterotrophic organs. Because it is difficult to access, the root system is frequently neglected in growth models, or its metabolism is rated based on generalizations from other organs. Here, whole‐plant cuvettes were used for investigating total‐plant carbon exchange with the environment over full diurnal cycles. Dynamics of primary metabolism and diurnally resolved phloem exudation profiles, as proxy of assimilate transport, were combined to obtain a full picture of resource allocation. This uncovered a strong impact of periodicity of inter‐organ transport on the efficiency of carbon gain. While a sinusoidal fluctuation of the transport rate, with minor diel deflections, minimized respiratory losses in Arabidopsis wild‐type plants, triangular or rectangular patterns of transport, found in mutants defective in either starch or sucrose metabolism, increased root respiration at the end or beginning of the day, respectively. Power spectral density and cross‐correlation analysis revealed that only the rate of starch synthesis was strictly correlated to the rate of net photosynthesis in wild‐type, while in a sucrose‐phosphate synthase mutant (spsa1), this applied also to carboxylate synthesis, serving as an alternative carbon pool. In the starchless mutant of plastidial phospho‐gluco mutase (pgm), none of these rates, but concentrations of sucrose and glucose in the root, followed the pattern of photosynthesis, indicating direct transduction of shoot sugar levels to the root. The results demonstrate that starch metabolism alone is insufficient to buffer diurnal fluctuations of carbon exchange. Significance Statement Assimilate transport to the root system is not constant over the day but shows diurnal fluctuations; large deflections in transport activity cause substantial respiratory losses in the root system. Neither sugar nor starch in either shoot or root are simple indicators of source or sink limitation and are insufficient to manage balanced growth; instead, a tuned balance between sucrose and starch metabolism creates a sinusoidal assimilate transport pattern that optimizes carbon allocation to biomass production.