Abstract
In the mechanisms of stomatal opening, the transports of osmotic
materials between the guard cell cytoplasm and vacuole have not been
studied much. There were also important lacks of understanding about
tonoplast transport proteins and channels. Tonoplast has been found to
have many types of channels related to K+ transport, among which are
inward-K+ channels/FV, outward-K+ channels/FV, outward-TPK/VK channels
and TPC1/SV channels. The two H+ transport enzymes in tonoplast,
H+-ATPase and H+-PPase, transport H+ from the cytoplasm to vacuole very
actively. They serve to create an ideal pH condition between vacuole and
cytoplasm to facilitate the many metabolisms in the cell. The cytosolic
K+ cannot easily enter the vacuole to fill the charge balances, because
vacuole is too full of positive charges. Therefore, in order to increase
the osmotic pressure of the guard cell vacuole, it is necessary to
transport solute that can replace K+. Tonoplast contains sucrose-H+
antiports, an active transport protein that can transport cytoplasmic
sucrose to vacuole. Although various solutes including K+ are required
for stomata to open, sucrose is believed to be the most important
substance that can increase the vacuole’s osmotic pressure.