Variation in stomatal complex formation in maize leaves of wild type and T3 mutations.

<p>(a-g) Progression of stomatal development in wild-type (top) and zmstomagen1/2 mutant (bottom) plants, from stomatal rows to mature stomata. (a) stomatal rows, (b-c) asymmetric division, (d) symmetric division, and (g) mature stomata. Bar = 25 µm. (h) Toluidine blue O–stained epidermal peels from adult leaves of WT (HiII-A × HiII-B), and <i>zmstomagen1/2</i> mutants (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6). Black arrowheads indicate normal stomatal complexes in the WT, while white and black triangles represent absent and defective stomatal complexes, respectively, in the mutant lines. Quantitative analysis of stomatal density (i), stomatal index (j) in mature leaf tissue. Error bars represent standard error of the mean (SE) (n > 1000 stomatal complexes were analyzed for each genotype). *<i>P</i> < 0.05, **<i>P</i> < 0.01, ***<i>P</i> < 0.001, ns represents no significance at <i>P</i> > 0.05, Independent-Samples T Test. (k) Quantitative analysis of abnormal stomatal complexes in mature leaf tissue (n > 1000 stomatal complexes were analyzed for each genotype). ‘No stomata’ indicates regions where stomatal files are present but mature stomatal complexes failed to develop, resulting in undifferentiated epidermal cells. ‘Defective stomata’ represents incomplete or malformed stomatal complexes.</p>