Rapid Adjustment of Guard-Cell Abscisic Acid Levels to Current Leaf-Water Status

Detached broad bean (Vicia faba L.) leaflets were water stressed; within 15 minutes, guard-cell abscisic acid (ABA) concentration increased ninefold. This result eliminates the apparent discrepancy raised by reports of no correlation between initial water-stress effects on stomata and leaf ABA concentration. Six hours after stress relief, guard-cell ABA concentration was near the prestress value, which would seem to implicate other factors in stress aftereffects on stomata.