Nitric oxide inhibits blue light-specific stomatal opening via abscisic acid signaling pathways in Vicia guard cells

Recent evidence suggests that nitric oxide (NO) acts as an intermediate of ABA signal transduction for stomatal closure. However, NO's effect on stomatal opening is poorly understood even though both opening and closing activities determine stomatal aperture. Here we show that NO inhibits stomatal opening specific to blue light, thereby stimulating stomatal closure. NO inhibited blue light-specific stomatal opening but not red light-induced opening. NO inhibited both blue light-induced H+ pumping and H+-ATPase phosphorylation. The NO scavenger 2-carboxyphenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (c-PTIO) restored all these inhibitory effects. ABA and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) inhibited all of these blue light-specific responses in a manner similar to NO. c-PTIO partially restored the ABA-induced inhibition of all of these opening responses but did not restore inhibition of the responses by H2O2. ABA, H2O2 and NO had slight inhibitory effects on the phosphorylation of phototropins, which are blue light receptors in guard cells. NO inhibited neither fusicoccin-induced H+ pumping in guard cells nor H+ transport by H+-ATPase in the isolated membranes. From these results, we conclude that both NO and H2O2 inhibit blue light-induced activation of H+-ATPase by inhibiting the component(s) between phototropins and H+-ATPase in guard cells and stimulate stomatal closure by ABA.