Research Highlights
Scientists reveal why plant stomata has its particular lip shape ~ Plant's master regulator gene MUTE, provides hints to how organisms develop their shape ~
Professor Keiko Torii (ITbM, Nagoya University; HHMI; University of Washington), Designated Assistant Professor Soon-Ki Han, and their collaborators at Kyushu University and RIKEN, have revealed the mechanism on how plant stomata is formed through a single symmetric cell division. The research was carried out through the collaboration of various fields, including plant biology, bioinformatics and mathematical modeling.
The results of this research have been reported in Developmental Cell.
The regulatory network of stomatal differentiation and cell division by the regulator gene, MUTE. Usually, stomata consist of 2 guard cells, but upon switching to a different regulatory pathway, various stomata shapes (stomata with only one guard cell, stomata with 4 guard cells) are formed.
Journal Information:
This article "MUTE Directly Orchestrates Cell-State Switch and the Single Symmetric Division to Create Stomata" by Soon-Ki Han, Xingyun Qi, Kei Sugihara, Jonathan H. Dang, Takaho A. Endo, Kristen L. Miller, Eun-Deok Kim, Takashi Miura, Keiko U. Torii was published online in Developmental Cell.
DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.04.010

Media Coverage and Related Links
- University of Washington "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE, scientists report " (May 7, 2018)
- EurekAlert! "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 7, 2018)
- Phys.Org "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE, scientists report" (May 7, 2018)
- Science Daily "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 7, 2018)
- Newswise "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 7, 2018)
- My Science "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 7, 2018)
- Science Codex "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 7, 2018)
- Science Newsline "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 9, 2018)
- Global Plant Council "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 9, 2018)
- Technology.Org "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 11, 2018)
- Science & Technology Research News "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 15, 2018)
- Archaeology News Network "Stomata -- the plant pores that give us life -- arise thanks to a gene called MUTE" (May 15, 2018)
2018-05-08