Agrima Bhatt, Rajasthan University
Climate change is a global phenomenon and has been around for a decade, but in the last few years, it has shown the impacts that the public can no longer turn its eyes to! Scientists have been predicting about the next few years and how it can massively change the earth we currently know. The impact of global warming occurring now will soon be visible to us shortly. Global temperature will continue to rise due to intense heat waves, stronger hurricanes, droughts, and this change will have the impact to be able to continue in this century and onward!
With the human population booming, sustainable development of our biodiversity, water, and land becomes a necessity. Scientists for decades now have been trying to develop drought resistance, climate, and pest-resistant plants with the help of different methodologies. Since water is a living necessity for almost all creatures on earth, scientists are trying to decrease the plant’s dependency on the water by manipulating the minute pores on leaves, known as stomata.
What are Stomata?
Stomata are small minute pores found on the surface or epidermis of leaves, stems, and different plant organs. They are composed of a pair of specialized guard cells surrounding the central pore. Stomata is chiefly responsible for the exchange of gases (CO2 and O2) and the control of water loss from leaves.
Guard cells in the stomata can detect the intracellular concentration of gases and control water loss from plants. High CO2 concentration inside and the presence of stress hormone ABA indicate the guard cells for the need for water conservation. Thus, guard cells shrink and close the stomatal pore.
Alga Guillardia theta as a photo-sensitive channel
However, the talking point which remains unsolved by scientists is the signalling pathway in guard cells. Scientists from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, had decided to tackle this problem and succeeded in finding a novel way to control stomatal movements with the use of light pulses, adopted from a technique known as optogenetics.
Researchers experimented with this onto the guard cells of the tobacco plant by using a light-sensitive protein from the cryptophyte algae Guillardia theta. This light-activated anion channel (GtACR1) enables the chloride to exit out of the guard cells and enables the movement of potassium inside. Thus, the cell loses the pressure inside and closes the stomatal pore.
This hypothesis was confirmed by the scientists through experimentation and they concluded that with the exposure of anion channel i.e., ACR1 to the given light, they were able to stimulate the cell’s signalling pathway which proved to be sufficient for guard cell closing. This also helped in shedding light on the factors for stomatal closure, primarily depending on the activity of anion channels.
This can now be experimented with and duplicated on multiple plants with more anion channels. This can be highly used in sudden weather changes and conditions of heatwaves, where the need for water conservation becomes increasingly high, especially as we move on to the future.
Also read: Role of Inter-muscular adipose depots in Type2 Diabetes
Source: Huang, S., Ding, M., Roelfsema, M. R. G., Dreyer, I., Scherzer, S., Al-Rasheid, K. A. S., Gao, S., Nagel, G., Hedrich, R., & Konrad, K. R. (2021). Optogenetic control of the guard cell membrane potential and stomatal movement by the light-gated anion channel GtACR1. Science Advances, 7(28), eabg4619. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg4619
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About the author: Agrima Bhatt is an undergraduate student studying BSc. Biotechnology in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She is a science and research enthusiast who also loves to write articles and short snippets.
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