Scientists at ITbM, Nagoya University have synthesized a new bioactive small molecule that has the ability to increase stomata numbers on flowering plants without stunting their growth. The team's new discovery could help elucidate the stomatal development mechanism in plants.
press released on September 20, 2017
Fig. 1: Compounds CL1 and CL2 increase the number of stomata on plants, although they inhibit plant growth (left). Compound ZA155 (right) increased the number of stomata, but also inhibited plant growth. Compound ZA099 increased the number of stomata and had no effect on plant growth inhibition.
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Nagoya, Japan - Environmental studies have shown that 40% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) passes through plant stomata every year. Thus, controlling stomatal development and function is considered as a key for increasing crop plant productivity and water-use efficiency. Stomata are pores found in plant leaves that are responsible for gas exchange with the surrounding environment. As it has been reported that light and atmospheric CO2 levels influence the number of stomata, synthetic chemists and plant biologists at the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) in Nagoya University, have decided to explore this topic using a chemical approach and succeeded in developing small molecules to increase the number of stomata in plant leaves. The result of this study was reported in the journal, Chemical Communications......>>read more on the ITbM website
