Systems analysis of guard cell membrane transport for enhanced stomatal dynamics and water use efficiency

Stomatal transpiration is at the center of a crisis in water availability and crop production that is expected to unfold over the next 20 to 30 years. Global water usage has increased 6-fold in the past 100 years, twice as fast as the human population, and is expected to double again before 2030, driven mainly by irrigation and agriculture. Guard cell membrane transport is integral to controlling stomatal aperture and offers important targets for genetic manipulation to improve crop performance. However, its complexity presents a formidable barrier to exploring such possibilities. With few exceptions, mutations that increase water use efficiency commonly have been found to do so with substantial costs to the rate of carbon assimilation, reflecting the trade-off in CO₂ availability with suppressed stomatal transpiration. One approach yet to be explored in detail relies on quantitative systems analysis of the guard cell. Our deep knowledge of transport and homeostasis in these cells gives real substance to the prospect for reverse engineering of stomatal responses, using in silico design in directing genetic manipulation for improved water use and crop yields. Here we address this problem with a focus on stomatal kinetics, taking advantage of the OnGuard software and models of the stomatal guard cell recently developed for exploring stomatal physiology. Our analysis suggests that manipulations of single transporter populations are likely to have unforeseen consequences. Channel gating, especially of the dominant K⁺ channels, appears the most favorable target for experimental manipulation.