Review: How temperature regulates stomatal development and dynamics

The ambient temperature for plant growth is increasingly unpredictable under the changing climate.  To ensure growth, the leaf is the immediate organ responding to maintain photosynthesis. In this review, Yang et al. point out stomatal development and dynamics as the adaptive responses to long-term and short-term temperature stresses respectively. Prolonged exposure to heat reduces stomatal density, but a sudden temperature rise under well-watered conditions enhances stomatal opening to facilitate cooling through transpiration. In contrast, prolonged exposure to low temperatures disfavours water flow and transpiration but promotes stomatal density. The authors highlight PIF4 and SCRM/ICE1 as the major transcription factors shaping stomatal development at high and low temperature respectively, while emphasizing the unknowns of stomatal dynamics regulations. They conclude the review with examples of stomatal development and dynamics manipulations in crops, stating the necessity to translate the knowledge toward climate change-resilient crop production under combined stresses in the natural environment. (Summary by Yee-Shan Ku @Yee-Shan Ku) New Phytol. 10.1111/nph.71326