Recent Posts

Improving water use efficiency in maize

Blankenagel et al. discover a major link between variation in water use efficiency and carbon isotope discrimination  By Sonja Blankenagel, Stella Eggels, and Viktoriya Avramova Plant Breeding, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich  Background: Growing crops with high…

Guard cell endomembrane Ca2+-ATPases underpin a ‘carbon memory’ of photosynthetic assimilation that impacts on water-use efficiency (Nature Plants)

Stomatal guard cells control both carbon dioxide uptake and transpirational water loss. Guard cell control over the stomatal pore  aperture is sensitive to water status (through ABA) as well as the amount of CO2 available within the leaf air space. Several studies have indicated that stomatal aperture…