The Effect of Manipulating Wheat Stomatal Development

This project builds on our strong track record in stomatal biology and our discoveries on the regulation of stomatal development in the genetic model species Arabidopsis thaliana (a dicotyledonous plant). A previous BBSRC-funded student demonstrated that manipulating the expression of Arabidopsis Epidermal Patterning Factor (EPF) reduces Arabidopsis stomatal density, improves drought tolerance, and has no detrimental effect on photosynthetic rate (Doheny-Adams et al. 2012). We showed that the number of stomata formed before the leaf is a millimeter in length determines water use efficiency, a key agronomic trait becoming increasingly significant as water resources are limited and the human population continues to rise. Wheat is an important global food crop and any improvement in water use efficiency would have significant impact on its sustainable growth. However, wheat is a monocotyledonous plant with a different type of stomata (dumb-bell rather than kidney shaped), and we know nothing about the pathways that control stomata in wheat.