Prof. Ming-Yi Bai's group, at the School of Life Science, Shandong University made new progress in the regulation of Arabidopsis stomatal development by SnRK1 in response to different environmental conditions. This study was published in the international top journal of Nature Communications entitled “KIN10 promotes stomatal developmentthroughstabilizationof the SPEECHLESS transcription factor”. The first author is Dr. Chao Han at the School of Life Science. Prof. Ming-Yi Bai is the corresponding author.

Sucrose non-fermenting-1 (SNF1)-related kinase 1 (SnRK1) is a central energy sensor kinase in plants. SnRK1 is functionally and evolutionarily conserved with SNF1 in yeast and AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) in animals, which maintain cellular and energy homeostasis for all living organisms. However, it is not clear how SnRK1 is activated and regulated by different environmental stimulus and phytohormone and how activated SnRK1 regulate plant development to adapt changing environments.

In this study, researchers found Arabidopsis showed stomatal development deficiency under weak light, short photoperiod and liquid conditions, while exogenesis sugar supply can recover this deficiency. SnRK1 complex catalytic subunit KIN10 participated in the stomatal development. kin10 mutant showed lower stomatal index, while overexpression of KIN10 induced higher stomatal index in the above conditions. The authors proved that sucrose induced KIN10 accumulation by regulating translation. Moreover, KIN10 localized in the nuclei and interact with SPEECHLESS (SPCH) transcriptional factor,the master regulator for stomata formation, in stomatal lineage cells specifically. Finally, it is proved that KIN10 can phosphorylate and stabilize SPCH, thereby promoting stomatal development.

A model for KIN10-promoted stomatal development through phosphorylation and stabilization of SPCH

Paper link:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18048-w.