Paul, Matthew

Van Dijck, Patrick

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Frontiers in Plant Science

How do sugars regulate plant growth?Commentary on: Trehalose 6-phosphate: connecting plant metabolism and development (Commentary invited by Andreas Weber)

Matthew Paul

Patrick Van Dijck

Frontiers - Publisher Connector

General Commentary
published: 05 December 2011
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2011.00090
How do sugars regulate plant growth?
Matthew Paul1,2,3* and Patrick Van Dijck2
1 Plant Science, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK
2 VIB Department of Molecular Microbiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
3 Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
*Correspondence: matthew.paul@rothamsted.ac.uk
A commentary on
Trehalose 6-phosphate: connecting plant 
metabolism and development
by Ponnu, J., Wahl, V., and Schmid, M. 
(2011). Front. Plant Sci. 2:70. doi:10.3389/
fpls.2011.00070
Autotrophic organisms synthesize sugars, 
principally sucrose in the reactions of pho-
tosynthesis. This ancient primary process 
drives the growth and development of all 
organisms as a source of energy and car-
bon source. But can sugars actually regu-
late growth processes themselves beyond 
just supplying them with the carbon and 
energy they need? Well, the answer to this 
question and articulated in the mini review 
by Ponnu et al. (2011) is an emphatic yes.
Sugars perform diverse functions in 
living organisms. In plants the pathway 
that synthesizes the non-reducing disac-
charide trehalose, however, has become 
highly specialized around the signaling 
function of the precursor of trehalose, tre-
halose 6-phosphate (T6P). The model that 
has developed quite rapidly over the last 
couple of years or so is that T6P signals 
the availability of sucrose and then through 
the SnRK1 protein kinase regulatory system 
orchestrates changes in gene expression 
that enable sucrose to be used in growth 
processes. Plants cannot grow, it would 
seem, without this regulatory system that 
connects sugars with growth and develop-
ment. Not only is there regulation of the 
amount of growth and development by T6P 
seen in many diverse tissue types, but T6P 
appears also to control qualitative aspects 
of growth and development that affect 
organ form and function such as in inflo-
rescence, leaf, tuber, and seed development.
The authors present the context for tre-
halose metabolism in plants going back to 
studies from the early 1980s which reported 
the surprising toxicity of trehalose when fed 
in high concentrations to plants. Although 
only recently appreciated this was actually 
an indication of the strong regulation on 
growth processes imparted by T6P. The 
authors then bring readers up to date with 
latest knowledge about the numerous treha-
lose phosphate synthase (TPS) and trehalose 
phosphate phosphatase (TPP) genes found in 
plants. A large section in then devoted to the 
regulation of plant carbohydrate metabo-
lism including impacts on photosynthesis, 
starch and cell wall metabolism, SnRK1, 
and the emerging role of the bZIP11 tran-
scription factor in the T6P/SnRK1 regula-
tory system. Of all the genes involved in the 
trehalose biosynthetic pathway the specific 
roles of TPS1 and ra3 TPP are the best char-
acterized and these are described in a final 
section that emphasizes the importance of 
the pathway in development. Whilst many 
questions still remain, for example, what 
is the function of trehalose itself in plants, 
what is the role of the many TPS-like genes 
without apparent catalytic  activity and does 
T6P only function in a cell autonomous 
fashion or are there specific T6P transporters 
in the cell? Encouragingly some of the previ-
ous barriers to progress are coming down 
as we understand more about the targets of 
the pathway, its cell specificity and regula-
tion, and as measurements of T6P become 
less labor intensive and technically demand-
ing. There is promise too that knowledge 
of T6P biology in plants will soon deliver 
into tackling global concerns about food 
security. Indeed, links between T6P and 
plant abscisic acid stress hormone signal-
ing as well as the increased photosynthetic 
capacity upon overexpression of TPS may 
allow engineering plants that can overcome 
periods of water shortage and/or result in 
higher yields under non-optimal conditions.
Acknowledgment
Rothamsted Research receives strategic 
funding from BBSRC.
ReFeRence
Ponnu, J., Wahl, V., and Schmid, M. (2011). Trehalose 
6-phosphate: connecting plant metabolism and 
development. Front. Plant Sci. 2:70. doi:10.3389/
fpls.2011.00070
Received: 14 November 2011; accepted: 15 November 2011; 
published online: 05 December 2011.
Citation: Paul M and Van Dijck P (2011) How do sugars 
regulate plant growth? Front. Plant Sci. 2:90. doi: 10.3389/
fpls.2011.00090
This article was submitted to Frontiers in Plant Physiology, 
a specialty of Frontiers in Plant Science.
Copyright © 2011 Paul and Van Dijck. This is an open-access 
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons 
Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-
commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other 
forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.
www.frontiersin.org December 2011 | Volume 2 | Article 90 | 1


How Do Sugars Regulate Plant Growth?

Paul, M. J.

Van Dijck, P.

Rothamsted Repository

General Commentarypublished: 05 December 2011doi: 10.3389/fpls.2011.00090How do sugars regulate plant growth?Matthew Paul1,2,3* and Patrick Van Dijck21 Plant Science, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK2 VIB Department of Molecular Microbiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium3 Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium*Correspondence: matthew.paul@rothamsted.ac.ukA commentary onTrehalose 6-phosphate: connecting plant metabolism and developmentby Ponnu, J., Wahl, V., and Schmid, M. (2011). Front. Plant Sci. 2:70. doi:10.3389/fpls.2011.00070Autotrophic organisms synthesize sugars, principally sucrose in the reactions of pho-tosynthesis. This ancient primary process drives the growth and development of all organisms as a source of energy and car-bon source. But can sugars actually regu-late growth processes themselves beyond just supplying them with the carbon and energy they need? Well, the answer to this question and articulated in the mini review by Ponnu et al. (2011) is an emphatic yes.Sugars perform diverse functions in living organisms. In plants the pathway that synthesizes the non-reducing disac-charide trehalose, however, has become highly specialized around the signaling function of the precursor of trehalose, tre-halose 6-phosphate (T6P). The model that has developed quite rapidly over the last couple of years or so is that T6P signals the availability of sucrose and then through the SnRK1 protein kinase regulatory system orchestrates changes in gene expression that enable sucrose to be used in growth processes. Plants cannot grow, it would seem, without this regulatory system that connects sugars with growth and develop-ment. Not only is there regulation of the amount of growth and development by T6P seen in many diverse tissue types, but T6P appears also to control qualitative aspects of growth and development that affect organ form and function such as in inflo-rescence, leaf, tuber, and seed development.The authors present the context for tre-halose metabolism in plants going back to studies from the early 1980s which reported the surprising toxicity of trehalose when fed in high concentrations to plants. Although only recently appreciated this was actually an indication of the strong regulation on growth processes imparted by T6P. The authors then bring readers up to date with latest knowledge about the numerous treha-lose phosphate synthase (TPS) and trehalose phosphate phosphatase (TPP) genes found in plants. A large section in then devoted to the regulation of plant carbohydrate metabo-lism including impacts on photosynthesis, starch and cell wall metabolism, SnRK1, and the emerging role of the bZIP11 tran-scription factor in the T6P/SnRK1 regula-tory system. Of all the genes involved in the trehalose biosynthetic pathway the specific roles of TPS1 and ra3 TPP are the best char-acterized and these are described in a final section that emphasizes the importance of the pathway in development. Whilst many questions still remain, for example, what is the function of trehalose itself in plants, what is the role of the many TPS-like genes without apparent catalytic  activity and does T6P only function in a cell autonomous fashion or are there specific T6P transporters in the cell? Encouragingly some of the previ-ous barriers to progress are coming down as we understand more about the targets of the pathway, its cell specificity and regula-tion, and as measurements of T6P become less labor intensive and technically demand-ing. There is promise too that knowledge of T6P biology in plants will soon deliver into tackling global concerns about food security. Indeed, links between T6P and plant abscisic acid stress hormone signal-ing as well as the increased photosynthetic capacity upon overexpression of TPS may allow engineering plants that can overcome periods of water shortage and/or result in higher yields under non-optimal conditions.AcknowledgmentRothamsted Research receives strategic funding from BBSRC.ReFeRencePonnu, J., Wahl, V., and Schmid, M. (2011). Trehalose 6-phosphate: connecting plant metabolism and development. Front. Plant Sci. 2:70. doi:10.3389/fpls.2011.00070Received: 14 November 2011; accepted: 15 November 2011; published online: 05 December 2011.Citation: Paul M and Van Dijck P (2011) How do sugars regulate plant growth? Front. Plant Sci. 2:90. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2011.00090This article was submitted to Frontiers in Plant Physiology, a specialty of Frontiers in Plant Science.Copyright © 2011 Paul and Van Dijck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited.www.frontiersin.org December 2011 | Volume 2 | Article 90 | 1

How do sugars regulate plant growth? A commentary on 'Trehalose 6-phosphate: connecting plant metabolism and development' by Ponnu, J. et al. (2011) Front. Plant Sci. 2:70

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How Do Sugars Regulate Plant Growth?

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