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Peer-reviewedCC BYDevelopment

Targets of SPEECHLESS and FAMA control guard cell division and expansion in the late stomatal lineage

  • Pablo González‐Suárez1
  • Yoëlle Hilbers2,3,4
  • Alanta Budrys5,3,4
  • Ao Liu3,4
  • Sandra S. Richter1,6
  • Dominique C. Bergmann3,4
  • Margot E. Smit1,6,3,4
6 affiliations
  1. 1Centre for Plant Molecular Biology (ZMBP), Eberhard Karls University, D-72076 Tuebingen, Germany
  2. 2Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  3. 3Department of Biology, Stanford University, 94305 Stanford, California, USA
  4. 4Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 94305 Stanford, California, USA
  5. 5Department of Biology, New York University, 24 Waverly Pl, 19993 New York, New York, USA
  6. 6Cluster of Excellence GreenRobust, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen 72076, Germany
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Abstract

Plant tissue development often relies on the specification of cell type initials with stem cell-like properties. These later undergo differentiation, losing division potential and acquiring specific identities and functions. In the stomatal lineage, protodermal cells develop into guard cells (GCs) through the action of the bHLH transcription factors (TFs) SPEECHLESS (SPCH), MUTE and FAMA. Existing models support that these regulators act sequentially, but recent evidence indicates that SPCH expression and function are retained in late stomatal cells. Here, we combine transcriptomic and genetic approaches to define the function of SPCH during the late stomatal lineage. We show that relative levels and activities of SPCH and FAMA control GC division and expansion. Through cell type-specific TF induction and mRNA sequencing, we identify late-lineage targets of both TFs, and through genetic perturbation of these targets we demonstrate that their precise temporal regulation is required for proper GC morphology and function. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized role for SPCH in late stomatal development and support a revised model in which the functions of stomatal bHLH factors are not strictly separated in time.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{gonzalezsuarez2026targets,
  title = {{Targets of SPEECHLESS and FAMA control guard cell division and expansion in the late stomatal lineage}},
  author = {Pablo González‐Suárez and Yoëlle Hilbers and Alanta Budrys and Ao Liu and Sandra S. Richter and Dominique C. Bergmann and Margot E. Smit},
  journal = {Development},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1242/dev.205374},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.205374},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Targets of SPEECHLESS and FAMA control guard cell division and expansion in the late stomatal lineage
AU  - Pablo González‐Suárez
AU  - Yoëlle Hilbers
AU  - Alanta Budrys
AU  - Ao Liu
AU  - Sandra S. Richter
AU  - Dominique C. Bergmann
AU  - Margot E. Smit
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/22
JO  - Development
DO  - 10.1242/dev.205374
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.205374
AB  - Plant tissue development often relies on the specification of cell type initials with stem cell-like properties. These later undergo differentiation, losing division potential and acquiring specific identities and functions. In the stomatal lineage, protodermal cells develop into guard cells (GCs) through the action of the bHLH transcription factors (TFs) SPEECHLESS (SPCH), MUTE and FAMA. Existing models support that these regulators act sequentially, but recent evidence indicates that SPCH expression and function are retained in late stomatal cells. Here, we combine transcriptomic and genetic approaches to define the function of SPCH during the late stomatal lineage. We show that relative levels and activities of SPCH and FAMA control GC division and expansion. Through cell type-specific TF induction and mRNA sequencing, we identify late-lineage targets of both TFs, and through genetic perturbation of these targets we demonstrate that their precise temporal regulation is required for proper GC morphology and function. Our findings reveal a previously unrecognized role for SPCH in late stomatal development and support a revised model in which the functions of stomatal bHLH factors are not strictly separated in time.
SN  - 0950-1991
SN  - 1477-9129
ER  -