Sucrose signaling in plants A world yet to be explored

TOGNETTI J; PONTIS H; MARTÍNEZ NOËL G

Plant Signaling & Behavior

Landes Biosciences

Lugar: Austin, TX; Año: 2013 vol. 8 p. 1 - 10

1559-2324

The role of sucrose as a signaling molecule in plants wasoriginally proposed several decades ago. However, recognitionof sucrose as a true signal has been largely debated and onlyrecently this role has been fully accepted. The best-studiedcases of sucrose signaling involve metabolic processes, suchas the induction of fructan or anthocyanin synthesis, but alarge volume of scattered information suggests that sucrosesignals may control a vast array of developmental processesalong the whole life cycle of the plant. Also, wide gaps existin our current understanding of the intracellular steps thatmediate sucrose action. Sucrose concentration in plant tissuestends to be directly related to light intensity, and inverselyrelated to temperature, and accordingly, exogenous sucrosesupply often mimics the effect of high light and cold. However,many exceptions to this rule seem to occur due to interactionswith other signaling pathways. In conclusion, the sucrose roleas a signal molecule in plants is starting to be unveiled andmuch research is still needed to have a complete map of itssignificance in plant function.