'With it, we can gain new insights into how plants regulate their water consumption and how carbon dioxide fixation and stomatal movements are coupled. In a follow up optogenetics project, we want to use calcium-conducting channelrhodopsins to specifically allow calcium to flow into the guard cells cell through exposure to light and to understand the mechanism of anion channel activation in detail,' Hedrich outlines the upcoming goals of his research.īasic scientific research can also benefit from the results from Würzburg: 'Our new optogenetic tool has enormous potential for research,' says the JMU professor. 'Plant anion channels are activated during stress this process is dependent on calcium. Plants equipped in this way should close their stomata more quickly in response to approaching heat waves and thus be better able to cope with periods of drought. With this knowledge, it is now possible to cultivate plants with an increased number of anion channels in the guard cells. The exposure to light had almost completely prevented the transpiration of the plants. 'By exposing ACR1 to light, we have bridged the cell's own signalling chain, thus proving the hypothesis that the opening of anion channels is essential and sufficient for stomatal closure,' Hedrich summarises the results of the study. 'The light pulse is like a remote control for the movement of the stomata,' says Hedrich. The guard cells lose internal pressure, slacken and the pore closes within 15 minutes. In response to light pulses, the switch ensures that chloride flows out of the guard cells and potassium follows. The group used a light-sensitive protein from the alga Guillardia theta as a light switch, namely the anion channel ACR1 from the group of channelrhodopsins. JMU researchers Shouguang Huang (first author), Kai Konrad and Rob Roelfsema were significantly involved. The team led by JMU biophysicist and guard cell expert Professor Rainer Hedrich describes their approach in the scientific journal Science Advances. It has been successfully exploited in animal cells, but the application in plant cells it is still in its infancy.

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The researchers succeeded in doing this by introducing a light-sensitive switch into the guard cells of tobacco plants. New (5) from 28.84 FREE Delivery on your first order. However, researchers of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, nevertheless found a way to control the movements of stomata remotely - using light pulses. Signalling pathways in these cells are so complex that it is difficult for humans to intervene with them directly. The stomatal movements are thus regulated by the guard cells. If the pressure rises, the cells move apart and the pore widens. If the internal pressure of these cells drops, they slacken and close the pore. The stomatal pores are surrounded by two guard cells.

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