Dissecting role of sucrose and GA recognition in SWEET transporters

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H00932
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 38:Agricultural chemistry and related fields
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Frommer Wolf 名古屋大学, トランスフォーマティブ生命分子研究所, 客員教授 (70795575)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: Sucrose / Gibberellin / SWEET / substrate selectivity

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Substrate selectivity of transporters is critical to accomplish the complex systems in biological processes. However, the molecular mechanisms of substrate selectivity of transporters have not been fully elucidated. SWEETs play essential roles through the transport activity for sucrose and/or glucose. In addition to sugars, SWEETs can transport GA, a hormone that regulates many important aspects of plant growth. Sugars and phytohormones are essential to the fundamental processes of plant development and growth. It has remained unclear, however, which spectrum of substrates SWEETs can transport, and how SWEETs can transport substrates as different as sucrose and GA. In this project, we investigated the substrate selectivity of GA and sucrose transporting SWEETs using computational and biochemical approaches. We have determined the residues responsible for GA and sucrose recognition in SWEETs and whether sucrose and GA are physiologically relevant for male fertility in Arabidopsis.

Free Research Field

Plant physiology

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

酵素や輸送体は無数の基質と相互作用するが、その中で生理的に意義があるものはごくわずかである。SWEETの基質選択性の分子メカニズムや輸送活性の生理的意義を解析することで、輸送体や酵素の持つ複数の基質活性の理解が深まる。本研究で得られた知見は、農薬や抗菌剤の開発などの創薬分野にも役に立つと考えられる。