Zhu Lingcheng, Lan Jincheng, Zhao Tao, Li Mingjun, Ruan Yong-Ling
State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production, College of Horticulture, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, China.
Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Nat Plants. 2025 May 21. doi: 10.1038/s41477-025-02009-6.
Sugar exchange among different subcellular compartments is central for achieving cellular sugar homeostasis and directly affects the yield and quality of many horticultural and field crops. While a portion of photosynthesis-originated sugars is metabolized through glycolysis upon entering the cytosol, the remainder is reversibly channelled to the vacuole, mediated by different families of vacuolar sugar transporter (VST) located on the vacuolar membrane, the tonoplast. Historically, sugar transporters operating on plasma membranes have been studied more than those on tonoplasts. Recently, however, several breakthroughs have shed light on (1) the distinct roles of VSTs in plant development and stress responses and (2) how seemingly unrelated classes of VSTs act together to modulate sugar influx into and efflux from the vacuoles. Here we evaluate these advances, analyse the evolution of VSTs and identify knowledge gaps and future directions for better understanding and manipulation of cytosolic-vacuolar sugar exchange to optimize plant performance.
不同亚细胞区室之间的糖交换对于实现细胞糖稳态至关重要，并直接影响许多园艺作物和大田作物的产量和品质。一部分光合作用产生的糖在进入细胞质后通过糖酵解进行代谢，其余的则由位于液泡膜（即液泡形成体）上的不同家族的液泡糖转运蛋白（VST）介导，可逆地进入液泡。从历史上看，对质膜上的糖转运蛋白的研究比对液泡膜上的糖转运蛋白的研究更多。然而，最近的几项突破揭示了：（1）VST在植物发育和胁迫反应中的独特作用；（2）看似无关的VST类别如何共同作用来调节糖进出液泡的流量。在这里，我们评估这些进展，分析VST的进化，并确定知识空白以及未来的研究方向，以便更好地理解和调控细胞质-液泡间的糖交换，从而优化植物性能。
