Adjustments of carbon allocation and stomatal dynamics by target localized strategies to increase crop productivity under changing climates

Increasing crop productivity to ensure food security for future generations is one of the greatest challenges in current plant research. This challenge is even greater due to global climate changes, as enhancing crop yields must occur against the backdrop of increasingly changing environments, particularly rising temperatures and water constraints. Global crop yield growth depends on an improved dynamic balance between carbon and water usage. Here we discuss different approaches that highlight the role of vascular tissue and guard cells in attempting to mitigate the carbon-water trade-off. We argue that crop engineering in the future will require the incorporation of a combination of improved traits. Since targeted gene modifications generally produce fewer undesirable pleiotropic effects than constitutive modifications, we envision that modifications of specific cell types, such as phloem companion cells and guard cells, represent an effective approach for adding beneficial gene modifications in the same plant. This approach will enable trait stacking to design future crops with both high yield and resilience to various climate change stresses.