The secretory peptide gene EPF1 enforces the stomatal one-cell-spacing rule

Kenta Hara; Ryoko Kajita; Keiko U. Torii; Dominique C. Bergmann; Tatsuo Kakimoto

doi:10.1101/gad.1550707

The secretory peptide gene EPF1 enforces the stomatal one-cell-spacing rule

¹ Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Sciences, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan;
² Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA;
³ Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA

↵4 These authors contributed equally to this work.

↵4 Corresponding author.

↵4 E-MAIL kakimoto{at}bio.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp; FAX 81-6-68505421.

Abstract

Stomata are innovations of land plants that allow regulated gas exchange. Stomatal precursor cells are produced by asymmetric cell division, and once formed, signal their neighbors to inhibit the formation of stomatal precursors in direct contact. We report a gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, EPIDERMAL PATTERNING FACTOR 1 (EPF1) that encodes a small secretory peptide expressed in stomatal cells and precursors and that controls stomatal patterning through regulation of asymmetric cell division. EPF1 activity is dependent on the TOO MANY MOUTHS receptor-like protein and ERECTA family receptor kinases, suggesting that EPF1 may provide a positional cue interpreted by these receptors.

Keywords