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Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata

Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata

During photosynthesis, plants acquire the necessary carbon dioxide and release the produced oxygen back into the atmosphere. Openings in the epidermis of plant leaves is the site of this exchange of gasses. A single opening is called a stoma—derived from the Greek word for “mouth.” Stomata open and close in response to a variety of environmental cues.

Primary and Secondary Growth in Roots and Shoots

Primary and Secondary Growth in Roots and Shoots

Vascular plants, which account for over 90% of the Earth’s vegetation, all undergo primary growth—which lengthens roots and shoots. Many land plants, notably woody plants, also undergo secondary growth—which thickens roots and shoots.

Light Acquisition

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.

Meristems and Plant Growth

Meristems and Plant Growth

Plants grow throughout their lives; this is called indeterminate growth, and it distinguishes plants from most animals. Although certain parts of plants stop growing (e.g., leaves and flowers), others grow continuously—like roots and stems.

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Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.

Responses to Drought and Flooding

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Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 31, 2026

Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves

Kinematic Analysis of Cell Division and Expansion: Quantifying the Cellular Basis of Growth and Sampling Developmental Zones in Zea mays Leaves

Published on: December 2, 2016

The Maize Leaf: Another Perspective on Growth Regulation.

Viktoriya Avramova¹, Katrien Sprangers¹, Gerrit T S Beemster¹

¹Molecular Plant Physiology and Biotechnology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.

Trends in Plant Science

|October 23, 2015

Summary

The Arabidopsis root tip is useful for studying plant growth, but the maize leaf offers new possibilities for detailed analysis of growth regulation mechanisms. This research explores the maize leaf as a complementary system.

Keywords:

Arabidopsis maize model system organ growth systems biology

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Experimental Design for Laser Microdissection RNA-Seq: Lessons from an Analysis of Maize Leaf Development

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Author Spotlight: Improved Methods for Preparing Transverse Sections and Unrolled Whole Mounts of Maize Leaf Primordia for Fluorescence and Confocal Imaging

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Experimental Design for Laser Microdissection RNA-Seq: Lessons from an Analysis of Maize Leaf Development

Experimental Design for Laser Microdissection RNA-Seq: Lessons from an Analysis of Maize Leaf Development

Published on: March 5, 2017

Area of Science:

Plant Biology
Developmental Biology
Genetics

Background:

The Arabidopsis thaliana root tip is a widely used model for studying organ growth regulation.
It offers advantages for genetic, transcriptomic, and cell biological studies of cell division and expansion.
Limitations exist for methods requiring large tissue amounts for sub-tissue resolution analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To highlight the potential of the maize leaf as a complementary system to the Arabidopsis root tip for plant growth studies.
To advance mechanistic understanding of plant growth regulation by leveraging the maize leaf model.

Main Methods:

Comparative analysis of experimental systems for plant growth studies.
Highlighting the suitability of the maize leaf for analyses requiring larger tissue samples.
Focusing on methods limited by tissue quantity in the Arabidopsis root tip model.

Main Results:

The maize leaf's larger size accommodates analyses not feasible in the Arabidopsis root tip.
These include quantification of proteins, enzyme activity, hormones, metabolites, and cell wall extensibility at sub-tissue resolution.
The maize leaf presents new avenues for detailed mechanistic studies.

Conclusions:

The maize leaf serves as a valuable complementary system to the Arabidopsis root tip for plant growth regulation research.
It enables advanced analyses at sub-tissue resolution, overcoming limitations of the current model.
This expands possibilities for a deeper mechanistic understanding of plant development.