Current Perspectives on the Regulatory Mechanisms of Sucrose Accumulation in Sugarcane

Overview

Journal Heliyon

Specialty Social Sciences

Date 2024 Mar 11

PMID 38463882

Authors

Faisal Mehdi

Saddia Galani

Kamal Priyananda Wickramasinghe

Peifang Zhao

Xin Lu

Xiuqin Lin

Chaohua Xu

Hongbo Liu

Xujuan Li

Xinlong Liu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Sugars transported from leaves (source) to stems (sink) energize cell growth, elongation, and maintenance. which are regulated by a variety of genes. This review reflects progress and prospects in the regulatory mechanism for maximum sucrose accumulation, including the role of sucrose metabolizing enzymes, sugar transporters and the elucidation of post-transcriptional control of sucrose-induced regulation of translation (SIRT) in the accumulation of sucrose. The current review suggests that SIRT is emerging as a significant mechanism controlling activities in response to endogenous sugar signals (via the negative feedback mechanism). Sucrose-controlled upstream open reading frame (SC-uORF) exists at the 5' leader region of 's main ORF, which inhibits sucrose accumulation through post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Sucrose transporters () are crucial for sucrose translocation from source to sink. Particularly, was found to be a major contributor to the efflux in the transportation of stems. Tonoplast sugar transporters (TSTs), which import sucrose into the vacuole, suggest their tissue-specific role from source to sink. Sucrose cleavage has generally been linked with invertase isozymes, whereas sucrose synthase (SuSy)-catalyzed metabolism has been associated with biosynthetic processes such as UDP-Glc, cellulose, hemicellulose and other polymers. However, other two key sucrose-metabolizing enzymes, such as sucrose-6-phosphate phosphohydrolase (S6PP) and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) isoforms, have been linked with sucrose biosynthesis. These findings suggest that manipulation of genes, such as overexpression of SPS genes and sucrose transporter genes, silencing of the SC-uORF of (removing the 5' leader region of the main ORF that is called SIRT-Insensitive) and downregulation of the invertase genes, may lead to maximum sucrose accumulation. This review provides an overview of sugarcane sucrose-regulating systems and baseline information for the development of cultivars with higher sucrose accumulation.

Citing Articles

RNAi and genome editing of sugarcane: Progress and prospects.

Brant E, Zuniga-Soto E, Altpeter F Plant J. 2025; 121(5):e70048.

PMID: 40051334 PMC: 11886501. DOI: 10.1111/tpj.70048.

Tonoplast sugar transporters as key drivers of sugar accumulation, a case study in sugarcane.

Tang M, Wang J, Kannan B, Koukoulidis N, Lin Y, Altpeter F Hortic Res. 2025; 12(2):uhae312.

PMID: 39944995 PMC: 11817997. DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhae312.

Sucrose synthase gene family in common bean during pod filling subjected to moisture restriction.

Morales-Elias N, Martinez-Barajas E, Bernal-Gracida L, Vazquez-Sanchez M, Galvan-Escobedo I, Rodriguez-Zavala J Front Plant Sci. 2025; 15:1462844.

PMID: 39744607 PMC: 11688632. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1462844.

Biochar enhances soil interactions and the initial development of sugarcane.

Ferreira O, Silva H, Alves A, de Aguilar M, Pimenta L, Costa G Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):27610.

PMID: 39528628 PMC: 11555256. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-78706-7.

Effects of NH -N: NO -N ratio on growth, nutrient uptake and production of blueberry ( spp.) under soilless culture.

Anwar A, Zheng J, Chen C, Chen M, Xue Y, Wang J Front Plant Sci. 2024; 15:1438811.

PMID: 39502920 PMC: 11536338. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1438811.

References

Dhungana S, Braun D . Sugar transporters in grasses: Function and modulation in source and storage tissues. J Plant Physiol. 2021; 266:153541. DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2021.153541. View

Vargas W, Pontis H, Salerno G . Differential expression of alkaline and neutral invertases in response to environmental stresses: characterization of an alkaline isoform as a stress-response enzyme in wheat leaves. Planta. 2007; 226(6):1535-45. DOI: 10.1007/s00425-007-0590-3. View

Zeng R, Chen T, Wang X, Cao J, Li X, Xu X . Physiological and Expressional Regulation on Photosynthesis, Starch and Sucrose Metabolism Response to Waterlogging Stress in Peanut. Front Plant Sci. 2021; 12:601771. PMC: 8283264. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.601771. View

Jung B, Ludewig F, Schulz A, Meissner G, Wostefeld N, Flugge U . Identification of the transporter responsible for sucrose accumulation in sugar beet taproots. Nat Plants. 2016; 1:14001. DOI: 10.1038/nplants.2014.1. View

Uys L, Botha F, Hofmeyr J, Rohwer J . Kinetic model of sucrose accumulation in maturing sugarcane culm tissue. Phytochemistry. 2007; 68(16-18):2375-92. DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2007.04.023. View

Ribeiro R, Machado E, Magalhaes Filho J, Lobo A, Martins M, Silveira J . Increased sink strength offsets the inhibitory effect of sucrose on sugarcane photosynthesis. J Plant Physiol. 2016; 208:61-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2016.11.005. View

Schmolzer K, Gutmann A, Diricks M, Desmet T, Nidetzky B . Sucrose synthase: A unique glycosyltransferase for biocatalytic glycosylation process development. Biotechnol Adv. 2015; 34(2):88-111. DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.11.003. View

Baena-Gonzalez E, Rolland F, Thevelein J, Sheen J . A central integrator of transcription networks in plant stress and energy signalling. Nature. 2007; 448(7156):938-42. DOI: 10.1038/nature06069. View

Yuan M, Zhao J, Huang R, Li X, Xiao J, Wang S . Rice MtN3/saliva/SWEET gene family: Evolution, expression profiling, and sugar transport. J Integr Plant Biol. 2014; 56(6):559-70. DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12173. View

10.

Leach K, Tran T, Slewinski T, Meeley R, Braun D . Sucrose transporter2 contributes to maize growth, development, and crop yield. J Integr Plant Biol. 2017; 59(6):390-408. DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12527. View

11.

Baroja-Fernandez E, Munoz F, Li J, Bahaji A, Almagro G, Montero M . Sucrose synthase activity in the sus1/sus2/sus3/sus4 Arabidopsis mutant is sufficient to support normal cellulose and starch production. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011; 109(1):321-6. PMC: 3252950. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1117099109. View

12.

Zhang Q, Hu W, Zhu F, Wang L, Yu Q, Ming R . Structure, phylogeny, allelic haplotypes and expression of sucrose transporter gene families in Saccharum. BMC Genomics. 2016; 17:88. PMC: 4736615. DOI: 10.1186/s12864-016-2419-6. View

13.

Rossouw D, Bosch S, Kossmann J, Botha F, Groenewald J . Downregulation of neutral invertase activity in sugarcane cell suspension cultures leads to a reduction in respiration and growth and an increase in sucrose accumulation. Funct Plant Biol. 2020; 34(6):490-498. DOI: 10.1071/FP06214. View

14.

Huber S, Huber J . ROLE AND REGULATION OF SUCROSE-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASE IN HIGHER PLANTS. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol. 1996; 47:431-444. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.arplant.47.1.431. View

15.

McCormick A, Cramer M, Watt D . Sink strength regulates photosynthesis in sugarcane. New Phytol. 2006; 171(4):759-70. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01785.x. View

16.

Sawitri W, Narita H, Ishizaka-Ikeda E, Sugiharto B, Hase T, Nakagawa A . Purification and characterization of recombinant sugarcane sucrose phosphate synthase expressed in E. coli and insect Sf9 cells: an importance of the N-terminal domain for an allosteric regulatory property. J Biochem. 2016; 159(6):599-607. PMC: 4892393. DOI: 10.1093/jb/mvw004. View

17.

McCormick A, Cramer M, Watt D . Changes in photosynthetic rates and gene expression of leaves during a source-sink perturbation in sugarcane. Ann Bot. 2007; 101(1):89-102. PMC: 2701831. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcm258. View

18.

Lu Y, Han S, Zhou C, Cheng Y, Lv Y, Zeng G . Molecular identification and expression analysis of five sucrose synthase genes in . Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2022; 28(4):697-707. PMC: 9110601. DOI: 10.1007/s12298-022-01166-8. View

19.

Smith A, Zeeman S . Starch: A Flexible, Adaptable Carbon Store Coupled to Plant Growth. Annu Rev Plant Biol. 2020; 71:217-245. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-050718-100241. View

20.

Dietrich K, Weltmeier F, Ehlert A, Weiste C, Stahl M, Harter K . Heterodimers of the Arabidopsis transcription factors bZIP1 and bZIP53 reprogram amino acid metabolism during low energy stress. Plant Cell. 2011; 23(1):381-95. PMC: 3051235. DOI: 10.1105/tpc.110.075390. View