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1. Editorial: Stomatal Biology and Beyond

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.848811  

   Ye, Wenxiu; Dong, Juan; Kinoshita, Toshinori (February 2022, Frontiers in Plant Science)
2. Bounds on stomatal size can explain scaling with stomatal density in forest plants

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70626  

   Liu, Congcong; Muir, Christopher D; Sack, Lawren; Li, Ying; Xu, Li; Li, Mingxu; Zhang, Jiahui; de_Boer, Hugo Jan; Han, Xingguo; Yu, Guirui; et al (December 2025, New Phytologist)

   Summary A prevailing hypothesis posits that achieving higher maximum rates of leaf carbon gain and water loss is constrained by geometry and/or selection to limit the allocation of epidermal area to stomata (f_S). Under this ‘stomatal‐area minimization hypothesis’, higherg_s,maxis associated with greater numbers of smaller stomata because this trait combination increasesg_s,maxwith minimal increase inf_S, leading to relative conservation off_Ssemi‐independent ofg_s,maxdue to coordination in stomatal size, density, and pore depth. An alternative hypothesis is that the evolution of higherg_s,maxcan be enabled by a greater epidermal area allocated to stomata, leading to positive covariation betweenf_Sandg_s,max; we call this the ‘stomatal‐area adaptation hypothesis’. Under this hypothesis, the interspecific scaling betweeng_s,max, stomatal density, and stomatal size is a by‐product of selection on a moving optimalg_s,max.We integrated biophysical and evolutionary quantitative genetic modeling with phylogenetic comparative analyses of a global data set of stomatal density and size from 2408 vascular forest species. The models present specific assumptions of both hypotheses and deduce predictions that can be evaluated with our empirical analyses of forest plants.There are three main results. First, neither the stomatal‐area minimization nor adaptation hypothesis is sufficient to be supported. Second, estimates of interspecific scaling from common regression methods cannot reliably distinguish between hypotheses when stomatal size is bounded. Third, we reconcile both hypotheses with the data by including an additional assumption that stomatal size is bounded by a wide range and under selection; we refer to this synthetic hypothesis as the ‘stomatal adaptation + bounded size’ hypothesis.This study advances our understanding of scaling between stomatal size and density by mathematically describing specific assumptions of competing hypotheses, demonstrating that existing hypotheses are inconsistent with observations, and reconciling these hypotheses with phylogenetic comparative analyses by postulating a synthetic model of selection ong_s,max,f_S, and stomatal size. 

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3. Turgor pressure change in stomatal guard cells arises from interactions between water influx and mechanical responses of their cell walls

   https://doi.org/10.1017/qpb.2022.8  

   Yi, Hojae; Chen, Yintong; Anderson, Charles T. (January 2022, Quantitative Plant Biology)

   Abstract The ability of plants to absorb CO 2 for photosynthesis and transport water from root to shoot depends on the reversible swelling of guard cells that open stomatal pores in the epidermis. Despite decades of experimental and theoretical work, the biomechanical drivers of stomatal opening and closure are still not clearly defined. We combined mechanical principles with a growing body of knowledge concerning water flux across the plant cell membrane and the biomechanical properties of plant cell walls to quantitatively test the long-standing hypothesis that increasing turgor pressure resulting from water uptake drives guard cell expansion during stomatal opening. To test the alternative hypothesis that water influx is the main motive force underlying guard cell expansion, we developed a system dynamics model accounting for water influx. This approach connects stomatal kinetics to whole plant physiology by including values for water flux arising from water status in the plant . 

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4. Coordinated and rapid whole‐plant systemic stomatal responses

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16143  

   Devireddy, Amith R.; Arbogast, Jimmie; Mittler, Ron (January 2020, New Phytologist)

   null (Ed.)
5. Establishing asymmetry: stomatal division and differentiation in plants

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17613  

   Guo, Xiaoyu; Wang, Lu; Dong, Juan (August 2021, New Phytologist)

   Summary In the leaf epidermis, stomatal pores allow gas exchange between plants and the environment. The production of stomatal guard cells requires the lineage cells to divide asymmetrically. In this Insight review, we describe an emerging picture of how intrinsic molecules drive stomatal asymmetric cell division in multidimensions, from transcriptional activities in the nucleus to the dynamic assembly of the polarity complex at the cell cortex. Given the significant roles of stomatal activity in plant responses to environmental changes, we incorporate recent advances in external cues feeding into the regulation of core molecular machinery required for stomatal development. The work we discuss here is mainly based on the dicot plantArabidopsis thalianawith summaries of recent progress in the monocots. 

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