Abstract
We previously reported that amounts of actin microfilaments and endosomes increased in connection region of Arabidopsis guard cells in stomatal opening using live imaging and our original image processing framework (Higaki et al. 2010 JSPP metting). In this study, we observed guard cell membrane structures in connection region using Arabidopsis expressing GFP-PIP2a. Three-dimensional imaging showed that distance between guard cell membranes decreased according to stomatal opening, suggesting mechanical stress induced at the connection region in stomatal opening. We therefore performed mechanical simulation of stomatal movement by finite element method (FEM). Two-dimensional truss modeling of a guard cell based on microscopic morphometry of Arabidopsis guard cells and FEM simulation with various condition settings revealed that intensive stress induced at connection region in the displacement that mimic stomatal opening. We will discuss a possible relationship between intracellular dynamics and mechanical stress in stomatal opening.
