Plant Tissue Succulence Engineering Improves Water-use Efficiency and Drought Attenuation

This study was conducted tissue succulence in Arabidopsis thaliana by overexpression of a codon-optimized helix-loop-helix transcription factor (CEB1) from wine grape. We show that Ceb1-overexpressing lines display significant increases in cell size, tissue thickness, and succulence, with corresponding increases in organ size, vegetative biomass, and flower and silique size, seed size, number, and production. Increased cell size resulted in a significant decrease in intracellular air space (IAS) and up to a 2-fold increase in both instantaneous and integrated water-use efficiency associated with reduced stomatal density and closure.