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Updated: Oct 9, 2026

Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells
Published on: May 12, 2023
KAT1 is not essential for stomatal opening
A Szyroki1, N Ivashikina, P Dietrich
1Max-Delbrück-Laboratorium, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, 50829 Cologne, Germany.
Abstract:
It is generally accepted that K(+) uptake into guard cells via inward-rectifying K(+) channels is required for stomatal opening. To test whether the guard cell K(+) channel KAT1 is essential for stomatal opening, a knockout mutant, KAT1En-1, was isolated from an En-1 mutagenized Arabidopsis thaliana population. Stomatal action and K(+) uptake, however, were not impaired in KAT1-deficient plants. Reverse transcription-PCR experiments with isolated guard cell protoplasts showed that in addition to KAT1, the K(+) channels AKT1, AKT2/3, AtKC1, and KAT2 were expressed in this cell type. In impalement measurements, intact guard cells exhibited inward-rectifying K(+) currents across the plasma membrane of both wild-type and KAT1En-1 plants. This study demonstrates that multiple K(+) channel transcripts exist in guard cells and that KAT1 is not essential for stomatal action.
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