Systems analysis of guard cell oscillatory mechanics in stomatal dynamics
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Life Sciences
Abstract
Stomata in the epidermis of plant leaves play a vital role in regulating CO2 exchange for photosynthesis while minimising transpirational water loss between the inner leaf air space and the atmosphere. Guard cells surrounding the stomata take up inorganic solutes and water, increasing in volume to open the stomatal pore when CO2 in the leaf is depleted; and they lose solutes and water, decreasing in volume to close the stomatal pore and conserve leaf water under stress, in the dark and when CO2 is high. We know a great deal about the mechanisms that drive stomatal movements between the extremes in pore aperture. By contrast, our knowledge is remarkably poor of the mechanisms that give rise to the dynamic continuum of apertures normally observed in the field, much less how such fine-tuning is regulated. This gap in knowledge can be seen, for example, in the focus of past efforts in quantitative modelling. Stomatal characteristics underpin models for transpiration and plant water use efficiency that have proven successful in reproducing and predicting transpirational behaviours at the plant and community levels. However all of these models reflect a 'top-down' approach and consider guard cell mechanics as a 'black box', subsuming these processes within a few empirical parameters, hydraulic pathways and conductances. There are very few models that have been developed 'bottom-up' from the properties of the guard cells themselves, despite the wealth of knowledge we have for guard cell transport and signalling, and none that are sufficiently generalised to be widely applicable in predicting stomatal behaviour. A further complication is that much of our knowledge at the cellular level is based on in vitro studies with guard cells in epidermal peels or isolated as protoplasts. We need to bridge these gaps in our knowledge and to understand how stomata compensate dynamically in the face of real environmental challenges. Studies over the past 15 years have yielded several important clues to the mechanisms behind stomatal dynamics. The clues point to oscillations of the guard cell membrane between two quasi-stable states that control and balance osmotic fluxes. This postulate finds support in well-documented observations that stomatal apertures also oscillate and can be driven experimentally under defined conditions. Indeed, such a 'time-averaging' mechanism has already been predicted from a systems analysis of guard cell ion transport, albeit using a mathematical model with significant parameter limitations. These several lines of evidence need now to be drawn together and subject to rigorous experimental testing in order to address a number of key issues. We need to know whether more comprehensive mathematical models for guard cell transport / incorporating, for example, known regulatory properties for the major ion transporters / are able to return the full range of observed behaviours in aperture and voltage, and to predict novel ones. We want to know how these behaviours are underpinned by the dynamics of guard cell ion fluxes and osmotic contents. Finally, we want to test whether experimental manipulations of the relevant guard cell parameters can be shown to yield well-defined and predictable changes in stomatal behaviour. We propose here to develop this line of enquiry jointly through systems kinetic modelling to derive quantitative and testable predictions and through experimental analysis and validation. Our knowledge of guard cell transport and homeostasis is now sufficiently well-developed to make an approach of this kind a readily achievable goal. We fully expect answers to the questions we pose to yield new and exciting insights into the behaviour of stomata and to open entirely new dimensions to practical applications in agriculture and crop development.
Technical Summary
Stomata of plant leaves play a vital role in regulating CO2 exchange for photosynthesis while minimising transpirational water loss to the atmosphere.We know a great deal about stomatal movements between the extremes in pore aperture and about the mechanisms that drive these movements at the level of the guard cell in vitro in epidermal peels and protoplasts. By contrast, our knowledge is remarkably poor of the mechanisms that give rise to the dynamic continuum of apertures normally observed in vivo in the leaf. This project seeks to bridge these gaps in knowledge to understand how stomata achieve a dynamic range of apertures in the face of environmental challenge. We propose a systems modelling approach in conjunction with experimental analysis of the oscillatory behaviour of guard cells in epidermal peels and in situ in the leaf. The project will follow two lines of enquiry. (1) We will develop a software platform for quantitative mathematical modelling of guard cell membrane transport and homeostasis. We will draw on the wealth of detailed kinetic information for guard cells to fully-constrain parameters and generate models with true predictive power and experimentally-testable outputs. (2) We will utilise imaging, electrophysiology and related techniques to quantify the oscillatory behaviours of guard cells, both to bridge the gap between in vitro preparations and stomata function in the leaf, and to dissect the underlying mechanics and function(s) of these oscillations. These studies will also serve as a test-bed for experimental analysis of model predictions and for model validation. We anticipate the results to yield new and exciting insights into the behaviour of guard cells and stomata / much as previous modelling efforts have provided hitherto unexpected (indeed, counter-intuitive) insights into cellular homeostasis and human disease / and we anticipate the work to open entirely new dimensions in applications to agriculture and crop development.
People |
ORCID iD |
Michael Blatt (Principal Investigator) | |
Tianhai Tian (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Papanatsiou M
(2017)
Stomatal clustering in Begonia associates with the kinetics of leaf gaseous exchange and influences water use efficiency.
in Journal of experimental botany
Papanatsiou M
(2015)
Hydrogen sulfide regulates inward-rectifying K+ channels in conjunction with stomatal closure.
in Plant physiology
Papanatsiou M
(2016)
Stomatal Spacing Safeguards Stomatal Dynamics by Facilitating Guard Cell Ion Transport Independent of the Epidermal Solute Reservoir.
in Plant physiology
Riedelsberger J
(2010)
Distributed structures underlie gating differences between the kin channel KAT1 and the Kout channel SKOR.
in Molecular plant
Rogers S
(2021)
PIEZO1 and the mechanism of the long circulatory longevity of human red blood cells.
in PLoS computational biology
Sokolovski S
(2008)
Functional interaction of the SNARE protein NtSyp121 in Ca2+ channel gating, Ca2+ transients and ABA signalling of stomatal guard cells.
in Molecular plant
Vialet-Chabrand S
(2017)
Global Sensitivity Analysis of OnGuard Models Identifies Key Hubs for Transport Interaction in Stomatal Dynamics.
in Plant physiology
Vialet-Chabrand S
(2016)
Modelling water use efficiency in a dynamic environment: An example using Arabidopsis thaliana.
in Plant science : an international journal of experimental plant biology
Vialet-Chabrand SRM
(2017)
Temporal Dynamics of Stomatal Behavior: Modeling and Implications for Photosynthesis and Water Use.
in Plant physiology
Waghmare S
(2019)
K+ Channel-SEC11 Binding Exchange Regulates SNARE Assembly for Secretory Traffic.
in Plant physiology
Description | This project yielded a detailed and quantitative modelling platform for stomatal biology that not only reproduces existing knowledge of stomatal mechanics but also has produced a large number of unexpected, often counterintuitive, predictions about how stomata work. A number of these predictions have been followed up over the past 8 years, all showing the remarkable accuracy of the modelling platform. This knowledge has enabled us to expand on the platform to the whole plant in the field, effectively providing the essential link between molecular function and whole-plant transpiration that is needed to guide experiments to engineer stomatal behaviour in the intact plant. |
Exploitation Route | The modelling platform is now freely available at the above web site for users to explore their own questions about how stomata function. It has obvious applications in 'reverse engineering' of stomatal function to improve water use efficiency in crops. It also offers a superb tool with which to train the next generation of researchers in how cells function. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Energy Environment Other |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | 2in1 vector systems |
Description | Synthetic biology vectors for transient and stable transformation with quantitative visual reporting on cell-by-cell basis |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2009 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and over 100 research groups worldwide Vector system distributions to more than 500 research groups worldwide |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | EZ-Rhizo |
Description | Computer software tool for quantitative measurement and analysis of root growth/development |
Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | Henry |
Description | Software for electrophysiology and imaging data aquisition and analysis |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | Multicistronic vector systems |
Description | Synthetic biology vector systems for transient and stable transformation for expressing multiple, tagged proteins and for quantitative analysis of membrane traffic and transport |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and over 100 research groups worldwide Vector system distributions to more than 500 research groups worldwide |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | OnGuard |
Description | Systems biology software for quantitative modelling of cellular transport and homeostasis |
Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | SUS vector systems |
Description | Synthetic biological vector systems for protein-protein interaction screening |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and over 100 research groups worldwide Vector system distributions to more than 500 research groups worldwide |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | Software tools for electrophysiology and imaging |
Description | The laboratory continues to develop and refine software/hardware tools for data acquisition and analysis relevant to electrophysiology, single-cell imaging and analysis. These activities are long-standing and open-ended, and develop in line with the current research activities and needs of the laboratory. All software and related packages are made freely available to the research community through the laboratory website at psrg.org.uk |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The various software tools and packages have furthered the research activities of the laboratory since the 1990s and continue to provide key support and drivers for advancing much of current research. These tools and packages are disseminated, on average, to over 100 laboratories per year. |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | EZ-Rhizo |
Description | Software for quantitative trait analysis and acquisition for root growth/development |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | Henry |
Description | Software package for electrophysiology and imaging data acquisition and analysis |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | OnGuard |
Description | Quantitative systems biology modelling of cellular transport and homeostasis |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Title | SDM-assist |
Description | Software for molecular primer design that enables introduction of silent markers for molecular cloning |
Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
Year Produced | 2013 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Multiple publications from my own research group and research groups worldwide Online distribution has been accessed through the laboratory website with site views at a rate of >500 per month |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Description | PBL |
Organisation | Plant Bioscience Limited Technology |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | IPR on ABA receptor technology and ABA signalling |
Collaborator Contribution | Funding related to IPR on ABA receptor technology and ABA signalling |
Impact | Multiple outcomes in publications and industrial contacts |
Description | PSG |
Organisation | POSCO - South Korea |
Country | Korea, Republic of |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Base support for meetings and exchange of materials |
Collaborator Contribution | Base support for meetings and exchange of materials |
Impact | Base support for meetings and exchange of materials |
Title | Software tools and packages for electrophysiology and imaging |
Description | The laboratory continues to develop and refine software/hardware tools for data acquisition and analysis relevant to electrophysiology, single-cell imaging and analysis. These activities are long-standing and open-ended, and develop in line with the current research activities and needs of the laboratory. All software and related packages are made freely available to the research community through the laboratory website at psrg.org.uk |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Impact | The various software tools and packages have furthered the research activities of the laboratory since the 1990s and continue to provide key support and drivers for advancing much of current research. These tools and packages are disseminated, on average, to over 100 laboratories per year. |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Description | International online services |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Prof. Blatt and members of his laboratory have contributed to various media events over the years, including online interview contributions (e.g. People behind the Science, a US-based media program) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2008,2011,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
Description | Invited presentations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I regularly speak to audiences, from small groups (5-20) to large audiences (>1000) in a variety of settings. In addition to teaching and extramural activities associated with the university, I also speak on invitation to national and international groups a number of times each year and in a variety of settings, academic as well as public. I also reach audiences through short video presentations mounted on the web, these primarily via my laboratory website and the ASPB websites. Anyone reading this entry is welcome to visit these sites to learn more. The impacts arising from my presentations are varied. For example, a common consequence of my speaking in academic settings is to attract potential researchers to visit my laboratory and, frequently, to interest potential collaborators and students/postdocs to my research group. At scientific meetings, my talks often attract interest also from researchers interested in the various tools and materials that my research has produced, including the various vector systems and software packages that I |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | Pre-2006,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Description | Schools and displays |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As these were multiple events, this question is not informative or useful. Participants varied from numbers in the tens to several thousands Extensive training of participating laboratory members as well as broad scope reach to schools and communities, in the case of the GCC science days to the west of Scotland and in the case of the IFPD activities to audiences within and outside the UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Description | Teaching Tools |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The PI has supported the editor in developing these tools since their inception in 2009 and has contributed to recent tools relating to membranes and transport education The Tool received an international award in 2010 for excellence in education and has an acknowledged takeup worldwide in over 3000 institutions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |
Description | Teaching Tools |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The PI has supported the editor in developing these tools since their inception in 2009 and has contributed to recent tools relating to membranes and transport education The Tool received an international award in 2010 for excellence in education and has an acknowledged takeup worldwide in over 3000 institutions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
URL | http://psrg.org.uk |