applyparastyle "fig//caption/p[1]" parastyle "FigCapt" Copyedited by: OUP Journal of Experimental Botany doi:10.1093/jxb/erz474 Advance Access Publication 23 October 2019 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jxb/erz474/5602888 by INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique user on 02 December 2019 This paper is available online free of all access charges (see https://academic.oup.com/jxb/pages/openaccess for further details) RESEARCH PAPER Xylem embolism in leaves does not occur with open stomata: evidence from direct observations using the optical visualization technique Danielle Creek1,2, , Laurent J. Lamarque3, José M. Torres-Ruiz1, Camille Parise3, Regis Burlett3, David T. Tissue2 and Sylvain Delzon3 1 Université Clermont-Auvergne, INRA, PIAF, 63000, Clermont-Ferrand, France 2 Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia 3 BIOGECO, INRA, Université de Bordeaux, 33615 Pessac, France *Correspondence:
[email protected] Received 30 June 2019; Editorial decision 10 October 2019; Accepted 11 October 2019 Editor: Howard Griffiths, University of Cambridge, UK Abstract Drought represents a major abiotic constraint to plant growth and survival. On the one hand, plants keep stomata open for efficient carbon assimilation while, on the other hand, they close them to prevent permanent hydraulic im- pairment from xylem embolism. The order of occurrence of these two processes (stomatal closure and the onset of leaf embolism) during plant dehydration has remained controversial, largely due to methodological limitations. However, the newly developed optical visualization method now allows concurrent monitoring of stomatal behaviour and leaf embolism formation in intact plants.