Using Arabidopsis mutants to discover the role of guard cell chloroplast in the stomatal response to light

Water availability is a major factor restricting plant production in agricultural and natural environments. Guard cells, on surfaces of leaves, control plant water loss and CO2 uptake for photosynthesis but we have a poor understanding of how they sense and respond to environmental cues. This project will use forward and reverse genetic approaches in Arabidopsis to discover how guard cells sense and respond to light. This will expand fundamental knowledge of guard cell function, provide molecular tools for improving plant water use efficiency in agricultural species and aid in the development of process based models of CO2 and water exchange under climate change.