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Subsidiary cells mediate stomatal closure in maize

Stomata are pores on leaves which enable gas exchange. In grasses, stomata are surrounded by dumbbell-shaped guard cells that are flanked by subsidiary cells. However, the role of the subsidiary cells in stomatal closure is not fully understood. Here, Liu et al. investigated this using two maize (Zea…

Structural organization of the spongy mesophyll (New Phytol.)

Despite a large variation in leaf morphology, laminar leaf anatomy is largely conserved, comprising two developmentally distinct mesophyll tissues, the palisade and spongy mesophyll. Spongy mesophyll cells along with intercellular spaces form an interconnected network to maximize the surface area for…