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Updated: May 25, 2026
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Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells
Published on: May 12, 2023
Direct interaction of ligand-receptor pairs specifying stomatal patterning
Jin Suk Lee1, Takeshi Kuroha, Marketa Hnilova
1Department of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Genes & Development
|January 14, 2012
Summary
EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTORS (EPFs) bind ERECTA family receptors to regulate plant stomata development. TOO MANY MOUTHS (TMM) modulates this signaling, with specific EPF-ERECTA pairs controlling initiation and spacing.
Area of Science:
- Plant biology
- Molecular signaling
- Developmental biology
Background:
- Stomata, crucial valves on plant epidermis, develop via positional cues.
- EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTORS (EPFs) are putative ligands, and ERECTA family receptor kinases and TOO MANY MOUTHS (TMM) are putative receptors involved in this process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the direct interactions between EPF peptides and their receptors.
- To define the roles of ERECTA family kinases and TMM in stomatal development signaling pathways.
Main Methods:
- In vitro binding assays to assess EPF peptide interactions with ERECTA family receptors and TMM.
- In vivo analysis of receptor complex formation (homomers and associations).
- Genetic analysis by blocking ERECTA and ERECTA-LIKE1 (ERL1) signaling to determine functional specificity.
Main Results:
- Direct, robust, and saturable binding of EPF peptides to the ERECTA family was confirmed.
- TMM showed specific binding patterns: negligible to EPF1 but binding to EPF2.
- ERECTA family receptors form homomers, while TMM associates with ERECTA family members but not itself.
- Blocking ERECTA/ERL1 signaling led to specific insensitivity to EPF2/EPF1, respectively.
Conclusions:
- The ERECTA family acts as the primary receptors for EPFs in stomatal development.
- TMM functions as a signal modulator in this pathway.
- Specific ligand-receptor pairs, EPF2-ERECTA and EPF1-ERL1, dictate distinct steps in stomatal development: initiation and spacing.
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