The computational biological model of plant stomata and its application

Abstract

<p indent=0mm>Stomata are vital organs for plants to exchange gas and water. They play a key role in balancing the demands for CO₂ in photosynthesis with the need for plants to conserve water. Therefore, a deep understanding of stomatal behavior and effective regulation of stomatal movements have significance for improving plant photosynthesis and water use efficiency. Modeling offers an effective tool to predict the change of stomata. Over the last few decades, many stomatal models, especially stomatal conductance models, were proposed to predict plant–environment interactions in response to the ongoing global climate change. Most of the studies are empirical or models focusing on a limited number of environmental factors that affect stomatal movement. Nonetheless, these models have been successfully applied to predict gas exchange and how plants respond to environmental changes. However, the lack of essential “macro-micro” connections to molecular and cellular mechanics hinders the understanding of stomatal regulation and its broader agricultural, biological, and ecological applications. Guard cells open the stomatal pore by the transport and accumulation of osmotically active solutes, mainly K⁺ and Cl⁻, to drive water uptake and cell expansion. They close the pore by coordinating the release of these solutes through K⁺ and anion channels in the plasma membrane. Over the past half-century, a wealth of knowledge has been generated on guard cell transport, signaling, and homeostasis, resolving the properties of the major transport processes and metabolic pathways for osmotic solute uptake and accumulation, and many of the signaling pathways that control them. However, the complex mechanism of ion exchange hinders further understanding of the stomatal mechanism. Quantitative mathematical modeling is an essential tool for gaining a better understanding of stomata, both to integrate detailed knowledge of individual transporters and to extract the properties emergent from their interactions. The computational model OnGuard offers a unique tool for exploring homeostatic properties emerging from the interactions of ion transport. It has already yielded sufficient detail to guide phenotypic and mutational studies, and it represents a key step towards the “reverse engineering” of stomatal guard cell physiology. Based on rational design and simulation, this method can provide information to improve water use efficiency and carbon assimilation. This software has a user-friendly interface, which can be easily accessed by researchers to manipulate the key elements and parameters in the system for guard cell simulation in plants. In this article, we review the development and research of stomatal modeling, compare the traditional stomatal model and the new computational biology model, and propose the development of stomatal computational biology to promote agricultural development in China.