Stone Fruits: Growth and Nitrogen and Organic Acid Metabolism in the Fruits and Seeds—A Review

Sucrose is the end product of photosynthesis and the primary sugar transported in the phloem of most plants. Sucrose synthase (SuSy) is a glycosyl transferase enzyme that plays a key role in sugar metabolism, primarily in sink tissues. SuSy catalyzes the reversible cleavage of sucrose into fructose and either uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-G) or adenosine diphosphate glucose (ADP-G). The products of sucrose cleavage by SuSy are available for many metabolic pathways, such as energy production, primary-metabolite production, and the synthesis of complex carbohydrates. SuSy proteins are usually homotetramers with an average monomeric molecular weight of about 90 kD (about 800 amino acids long). Plant SuSy isozymes are mainly located in the cytosol or adjacent to plasma membrane, but some SuSy proteins are found in the cell wall, vacuoles, and mitochondria. Plant SUS gene families are usually small, containing between four to seven genes, with distinct exon-intron structures. Plant SUS genes are divided into three separate clades, which are present in both monocots and dicots. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis indicates that a first SUS duplication event may have occurred before the divergence of the gymnosperms and angiosperms and a second duplication event probably occurred in a common angiosperm ancestor, leading to the existence of all three clades in both monocots and dicots. Plants with reduced SuSy activity have been shown to have reduced growth, reduced starch, cellulose or callose synthesis, reduced tolerance to anaerobic-stress conditions and altered shoot apical meristem function and leaf morphology. Plants overexpressing SUS have shown increased growth, increased xylem area and xylem cell-wall width, and increased cellulose and starch contents, making SUS high-potential candidate genes for the improvement of agricultural traits in crop plants. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding plant SuSy, including newly discovered possible developmental roles for SuSy in meristem functioning that involve sugar and hormonal signaling.

Sink organs of most plant species are supplied with carbon and energy in the form of sucrose. The channeling of sucrose into sink metabolism requires its cleavage by several isoforms of invertase and sucrose synthase, which are localized in different subcellular compartments. These activities regulate the entry of sucrose into distinct biochemical pathways, such as respiration or biosynthesis of cell wall polysaccharides and storage reserves. Other vital roles for the sucrose-cleaving enzymes include invertase activity at the site of phloem unloading and vacuolar invertase and sucrose synthase in sink organs, which drives the long-distance transport of sucrose. In addition, invertases have been implicated in the defense response and in turgor-driven cell expansion, and sucrose synthase expression is associated with low temperature and anaerobiosis responses. Finally, because sugars also regulate gene expression, the sucrose-cleaving enzymes play a fundamental role in controlling cell differentiation and development.