The dead cells that act as "straws" inside the plant to pull water and nutrients from the soil is known as xylem.
Xylem is the vascular tissue in plants that conducts water and dissolved nutrients upward from the root and also helps to form the woody element in the stem.
The consequence of a loss of enzyme function for the proper replication of DNA is that the replication process may be disrupted or halted altogether. This can lead to errors in the DNA sequence, which can result in genetic mutations or abnormalities.