Transportation whether in plants or animals is the key to the efficient assimilation of the nutrients that the organisms synthesise, get from their environment or digest. The study of these processes helps us in many ways.
The study of transport mechanisms in plants helps us to understand the uptake of the various types of substances and their passage through the plants. This has helped a great deal in developing fungicides, pesticides, growth regulators, etc. and how they should be administered to the plants. For example, a new category of pesticides called the systemic pesticides has been developed. These are taken up by the plant and transported through out its body. Any pest feeding on any part of the plant is killed. Similarly, systemic herbicides and systemic fungicides are used to kill the weeds and the disease-causing fungi.In animals too the study of transport has helped us in developing new and more effective drugs. There are also diagnostic techniques which make use of the translocation of the dyes or radioactive tracers to find blocked pathways.
