Stomata, each surrounded by a pair of guard cells, are microscopic pores in the shoot epidermis of plants. Stomatal pores serve as a low-resistance pathway for diffusional movement of gas and water vapor between a plant and the environment, therefore contributing significantly to agriculture and the global water and carbon cycles. In parallel, as natural openings in the leaf, stomata are exploited as a convenient entry route by a wide range of pathogens, thus posing major threats to crop yields. Recently, many insights have been gained through studies on fundamental mechanisms underlying stomatal function, development and patterning at both the molecular and systemic levels, making guard cell one of the best characterized model systems for plant cell and developmental biology. In addition, emerging exciting areas in stomatal biology include second messenger and metabolite signaling, cell wall mechanics, memory mechanisms, and evolution of development, function and signaling pathways. This Research Topic aims to host original research that can further improve our understanding of stomatal biology

Furthermore, one important goal of research on stomatal biology is, by developing new strategies to manipulate stomatal development, activity and/or physiology, to improve crop yield and water use efficiency. In recent years, we have witnessed striking progress attempting to manipulate the stomatal systems with a combination of genetic, optic and chemistry approaches. Thus, stomatal biotechnology is of equal importance as basic science and of broad interest across different fields, we encourage submission of original research articles with the emphasis of the translational side of stomatal biology.

In summary, we welcome original research articles including, but not restricted to, the areas of the following:
• Stomatal development and evolution
• Stomatal cell division and cell-fate differentiation
• Cell biology in stomata development and function
• Stomatal immunity
• Cell signaling in stomatal movement
• Guard cell physiology
• Cell wall mechanics in stomatal development and function
• Guard cell function and stress
• Chemical genetics/genomics in stomatal biology
• Optics and chemistry in stomatal biology
• Stomatal biotechnology

We also welcome submissions of Reviews, Perspectives and Opinion articles to overview current challenges, outstanding questions and future directions in the field of stomatal biology and application.

Please note that Original Research manuscripts with purely descriptive results are out of scope of Frontiers in Plant Science.

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