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This study investigates the evolutionary origin of mechanical advantage in angiosperms, a phenomenon where guard cells interact with surrounding epidermal pavement cells to enable larger stomatal openings. By testing 14 additional species, including Amborella trichopoda, the earliest diverging lineage of flowering plants, the researchers found that mechanical advantage is present across all measured angiosperm species. These findings suggest that this stomatal response evolved once, in the common ancestor of all flowering plants, and has been maintained throughout angiosperm diversification.
Why it matters
Understanding when and how this stomatal mechanism evolved has implications for comprehending why angiosperms became so ecologically dominant, as it likely enabled greater water transport efficiency and photosynthetic productivity. This knowledge could inform efforts to engineer or select for improved water-use efficiency in crop plants.
⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Mechanical interaction between guard cells and epidermal pavement cells enables large stomatal apertures and high productivity in angiosperms. We do not know when this response evolved, but over the last 169 years we have found that mechanical advantage has been tested in at least 230 species from 85 families. To date no data on this trait exists among angiosperms outside magnoliids, monocots and eudicots. To resolve the evolutionary origins of this critical stomatal response we tested for mechanical advantage across 14 additional species including the earliest diverging lineages of angiosperms. We find that mechanical advantage, while variable in magnitude, is present in all angiosperm species that have been measured, including Amborella trichopoda sister to all angiosperms. This response likely evolved once in flowering plants, in the common ancestor of this clade, remaining widespread across angiosperms today. We hypothesize that angiosperms could not have realized the full potential of physiological innovations in water transport without the evolution of this key trait that increased operational stomatal aperture.