Understanding how plants resist environmental stresses such as drought and high temperatures is essential as these factors severely limit global plant growth and biomass production. Plants adapt to changing environments through finely tuned cellular responses, with guard cells playing a central role. These cells regulate the opening and closing of stomata (pores on leaf surfaces), controlling the exchange of CO₂ and water vapor, and thus directly influencing photosynthesis, water use efficiency, and biomass production.
Guard cells integrate multiple signals (humidity, temperature, CO₂ levels) and adjust stomatal movements by regulating ion fluxes across their membranes. Mechanosensitive ion channels that respond to mechanical forces are known to act as sensors in many organisms, rapidly converting physical stress into ionic signals. In plants, four families of mechanosensitive channels (MSL, MCA, PIEZO, OSCA) have been identified, but their specific roles in guard cell function remain largely unexplored.
This project aims to identify which channels are active in guard cells and characterize their function using gene expression analysis, mutant studies, and advanced electrophysiological techniques. By linking channel activity to stomatal behavior, the research seeks to uncover new molecular targets for improving crop resilience under stress.