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Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Author Spotlight: Image-Based Methods to Study Membrane Trafficking Events in Stomatal Lineage Cells
Published on: May 12, 2023
Endomembrane trafficking driven by microtubule growth regulates stomatal movement in Arabidopsis
Hua Zhong1, Shuwei Wang1, Yaohui Huang1
1State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Microtubule-based vesicle trafficking usually relies upon kinesin and dynein motors and few reports describe microtubule polymerisation driving directional vesicle trafficking. Here we show that Arabidopsis END BINDING1b (EB1b), a microtubule plus-end binding protein, directly interacts with SYP121, a SNARE protein that mediates the trafficking of the K+ channel KAT1 and its distribution to the plasma membrane (PM) in Arabidopsis guard cells. Knockout of AtEB1b and its homologous proteins results in a modest but significant change in the distribution of KAT1 and SYP121 in guard cells and consequently delays light-induced stomatal opening. Live-cell imaging reveals that a portion of SYP121-associated endomembrane compartments co-localise with AtEB1b at the growing ends of microtubules, trafficking along with the growth of microtubules for targeting to the PM. Our study reveals a mechanism of vesicle trafficking driven by microtubule growth, which is involved in the redistribution of PM proteins to modulate guard cell movement.
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