Authors
Lisa Traczyk, Xingyun Qi (faculty)
Introduction
Stomata micropores on the surface of plant aerial part, mediate CO2 uptake, oxygen release, and water evaporation. When encountering drought stress, plants tend to have fewer stomata to preserve water.
ERECTA (ER) family is a group of receptor kinases that inhibit stomata formation. Three members, ER, ER-Like 1, and ER-like 2 (ERL2), belong to the ER family. Without them, clusters of stomata are produced on the leaf surface. Too Many Mouths (TMM) is a receptor protein that modulates the signal mediated by the ER family.
In this study, by generating higher-ordered mutants of the ER family members and TMM, we aim at understanding the contribution of each ER family member and TMM in mediating drought-induced signals that inhibit stomatal formation.