Gas exchange through the stomata: Carbon dioxide is taken in; at the same time a hundred water molecules (H2O) escape for each CO2 molecule that is taken up. (Image: Rainer Hedrich & Peter Ache / Universität Würzburg)
08/26/2019 - Plants face a dilemma in dry conditions: they have to seal themselves off to prevent losing too much water but this also limits their uptake of carbon dioxide. A sensory network assures that the plant strikes the right balance. When water is scarce, plants can close their pores to prevent losing too much water. This allows them to survive even longer periods of drought, but with the majority of pores closed, carbon dioxide uptake is also limited, which impairs photosynthetic performance and thus plant growth and yield. Plant accomplish a balancing act - navigating between drying out and starving in dry conditions - through an elaborate network of sensors. An international team of plant scientists led by Rainer Hedrich, a biophysicist from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, has now pinpointed these sensors. Microvalves control photosynthesis and water supply .
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