| The gene Speechless drives the division that initiates stomatal development. (Without Speechless, cells become the wax-coated, interlocking pavement cells on the surface of the plant, none of which open or close.) Two or three divisions after Speechless, Mute causes the formation of a guard mother cell. Then Fama causes the guard mother cell to divide into two equal guard cells that, as their name implies, guard the opening of the stomatal pore. |
