The gene that controls the distribution of stomatal cells

 

Stomatal cell growth gene found in plants

The Free Library (2002)

Countryside Publications Ltd. 29 Jun. 2015 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Stomatal+cell+growth+gene+found+in+plants.-a090871621

Remember the article on Sonic Bloom foliar feeding in the last issue (86/43 pg. 72)? Well, researchers at Ohio State University have identified the gene that controls the distribution of stomatal cells on leaves, key components for the healthy growth of all plants.

The discovery may have implications for enhancing the growth of important crop plants and might even provide an alternative of sorts for research into human stem cells.

The finding, reported in the current issue of the journal Science, linked the TMM gene in Arabidopsis plants to the formation and distribution of stomatal cells on the surfaces of leaves.

Arabidopsis thaliana is for botanists what fruit flies are for animal geneticists. It is one of the most important–and best understood–models for scientific study. While this common mustard plant has little economic value, it is widely used to better understand the processes governing plant growth.

Fred Sack, a professor of plant biology at Ohio State University, and Jeanette Nadeau, a postdoctoral fellow in the same department, spent several years trying to understand how the TMM gene altered the number and arrangement of stomatal cells on leaves. Now they have discovered that TMM is only the second known gene to be involved in stomatal development in plants.

“Genes like TMM exist in crop plants such as rice,” Sack said. “If TMM has the same function in crop plants that it does in Arabidopsis, then it could be a key regulator.”
Stomatal cells function as pores on the underside of leaves and control the entry of gases into the leaf for photosynthesis.

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