The ERECTA gene regulates plant transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis.

The survival of plants in dry conditions requires them to have tight control over transpiration, the process by which they release water and at the same time take up carbon dioxide. Plant breeders have been able to select crops for transpiration efficiency, which suggests that it is under genetic control, but until now the genes involved had not been identified. Now the ERECTA gene, known previously for effects on flowering, has been shown to regulate transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis plants in part via changes in stomatal density.