Title: Investigating the Biomechanics of Stomatal Maturation and Dynamics in Eudicots and Grasses
Speaker: Leila Jaafar, MS
Anderson Lab, The Pennsylvania State University
Date: March 19, 11a-12p ET | 10 am CT | 8am PT
Zoom Link:
https://upenn.zoom.us/j/
Stomatal complexes are dynamic cellular structures that regulate the size of stomata, microscopic pores on the plant epidermis, in response to environmental cues such as light and temperature. Each stomate is flanked by two guard cells, which can be kidney-shaped (as in eudicots) or dumbbell-shaped (as in grasses). While the signaling pathways involved in stomatal differentiation are well studied in Arabidopsis thaliana, the process of stomatal maturation—from young to fully developed complexes—remains largely unknown. In this work, we discuss the maturation of kidney-shaped guard cells in A. thaliana from both geometric and mechanical perspectives. Our findings indicate that, as these guard cells mature, they develop greater wall mechanical anisotropy yet exhibit a reduction in turgor pressure.
In grasses, the presence of subsidiary cells flanking the guard cells enables more rapid stomatal responses. Although several models have proposed mechanisms for guard–subsidiary cell interactions based on turgor pressure manipulation, these theories remain untested in vivo. To address this gap, we aim to investigate the guard–subsidiary cell relationship in the grass model Brachypodium distachyon through targeted cell ablation, nanoindentation, and computational modeling.
