Pronounced Phenotypic Changes in Transgenic Tobacco Plants Overexpressing Sucrose Synthase May Reveal a Novel Sugar Signaling Pathway.

ABSTRACT: Soluble sugars not only serve as nutrients, but also act as signals for plant growth and development, but how sugar signals are perceived and translated into physiological responses in plants remains unclear. We manipulated sugar levels in transgenic plants by overexpressing sucrose synthase (SuSy), which is a key enzyme believed to have reversible sucrose synthesis and sucrose degradation functions. The ectopically expressed SuSy protein exhibited sucrose-degrading activity, which may change the flux of sucrose demand from photosynthetic to non-photosynthetic cells, and trigger an unknown sucrose signaling pathway that lead to increased sucrose content in the transgenic plants. An experiment on the transition from heterotrophic to autotrophic growth demonstrated the existence of a novel s

SUBMITTER: Nguyen QA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4707253 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature