What is it about?
Stomatal pores in the leaf surface are used by pathogenic bacteria to enter leaves. Plants prohibit the entry of bacteria, after they have recognized molecular structures, such as the peptide flg22, by closing their stomatal pores. The closure of stomata is provoked by two guard cells that surround the pore. We show that two channels, which can release anions across the plasma membrane of guard cells, are activated by flg22. Upon activation of these channels, the guard cells extrude ions, which causes deflation of these cells and provokes closure of the stomatal pores.
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Why is it important?
In nature and agriculture, plants are exposed to large variety of potential pathogenic bacteria and they have developed means to defend themselves against this threat. Understanding these immune responses adds to our understanding of the ways in which plants cope with infectious bacteria. Moreover, the ability of plants to resist pathogens is of major importance for agriculture, since diseases can a devastating impact on crop yield.
Perspectives
Even though it is evident that the close of stomatal pores limits the entry of pathogenic bacteria, it is still unclear how efficient this mechanism prevents infections of plants in nature. In future work, plants can be generated in which the defense response of stomata is impaired, while other defense response of plants remain unaffected. With the use of such plants, we can answer the open questions: How important is stomatal closure for plant immune responses and to which type of pathogen do the plants defend themselves by closing stomatal pores.
Dr. Max R Roelfsema
University of Wuerzburg
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This page is a summary of: Guard cell
SLAC
1‐type anion channels mediate flagellin‐induced stomatal closure, New Phytologist, April 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nph.13435.
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