Ozone-triggered rapid stomatal response involves the production of reactive oxygen species, and is controlled by SLAC1 and OST1.

The air pollutant ozone can be used as a tool to unravel in planta processes induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we have utilized ozone to study ROS-dependent stomatal signaling. We show that the ozone-triggered rapid transient decrease (RTD) in stomatal conductance coincided with a burst of ROS in guard cells. RTD was present in 11 different Arabidopsis ecotypes, suggesting that it is a genetically robust response. To study which signaling components or ion channels were involved in RTD, we tested 44 mutants deficient in various aspects of stomatal function. This revealed that the SLAC1 protein, essential for guard cell plasma membrane S-type anion channel function, and the protein kinase OST1 were required for the ROS-induced fast stomatal closure. We showed a physical interaction between OST1 and SLAC1, and provide evidence that SLAC1 is phosphorylated by OST1. Phosphoproteomic experiments indicated that OST1 phosphorylated multiple amino acids in the N terminus of SLAC1. Using TILLING we identified three new slac1 alleles where predicted phosphosites were mutated. The lack of RTD in two of them, slac1-7 (S120F) and slac1-8 (S146F), suggested that these serine residues were important for the activation of SLAC1. Mass-spectrometry analysis combined with site-directed mutagenesis and phosphorylation assays, however, showed that only S120 was a specific phosphorylation site for OST1. The absence of the RTD in the dominant-negative mutants abi1-1 and abi2-1 also suggested a regulatory role for the protein phosphatases ABI1 and ABI2 in the ROS-induced activation of the S-type anion channel.