In the light of stomatal opening: new insights into ‘the Watergate’

Summary Stomata can be regarded as hydraulically driven valves in the leaf surface, which open to allow CO 2 uptake and close to prevent excessive loss of water. Movement of these ‘Watergates’ is regulated by environmental conditions, such as light, CO 2 and humidity. Guard cells can sense environmental conditions and function as motor cells within the stomatal complex. Stomatal movement results from the transport of K + salts across the guard cell membranes. In this review, we discuss the biophysical principles and mechanisms of stomatal movement and relate these to ion transport at the plasma membrane and vacuolar membrane. Studies with isolated guard cells, combined with recordings on single guard cells in intact plants, revealed that light stimulates stomatal opening via blue light‐specific and photosynthetic‐active radiation‐dependent pathways. In addition, guard cells sense changes in air humidity and the water status of distant tissues via the stress hormone abscisic acid (ABA). Guard cells thus provide an excellent system to study cross‐talk, as multiple signaling pathways induce both short‐ and long‐term responses in these sensory cells.ContentsSummary 665 I. Introduction 665 II. The hydrodynamic valve 666 III. Regulation of ion transport in guard cells 678 IV. Interaction between guard cell signaling pathways 682 V. Outlook 684Acknowledgements 685References 685