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The ins and outs of SWEETs in plants: Current understanding of the basics and their prospects in crop improvement

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Abstract

Sugar will eventually be exported transporters (SWEETs), a newly discovered class of sugar transporters, play a significant role in sugar efflux processes across various kingdoms of life. In fact, SWEETs have a long evolutionary path from prokaryotes to higher plants. In plants, they are involved in developmental processes, including nectar secretion, pollen nutrition, and seed filling. While the role of SWEETs has been well studied in biotic stresses, particularly their manipulation by pathogens for sugar acquisition, they have also been linked to many abiotic stresses. Although the phylogenetic relationships and solved structures of SWEETs in different plants have been revealed, their regulation remains unexplored. The current review deals with all the exciting discoveries around SWEETs, including their classification and diversity, and bridges the gaps in their evolutionary story, from bacterial semiSWEETs to eukaryotic SWEETs. We also critically examine SWEETs at genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic levels, as evinced by recently published examples from grain, millet, and horticultural crops. In addition, we highlight the possibilities of utilizing SWEETs in applications such as bioethanol production and disease diagnostic markers. We attempt to elucidate and unify findings related to the yet unsolved puzzle of SWEET regulation in plants to improve crop production and protection for sustainable agriculture.

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Acknowledgements

The SWEET transporter project at MS-K’s lab was funded by NIPGR core funding. UF acknowledges the DBT-SRF fellowship (DBT/2013/NIPGR/68) and NIPGR-SRF fellowship. AA acknowledges the CSIR fellowship (09/803(0168)/2019-EMR-I_367532).

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Author notes

  1. Anjali Anjali and Urooj Fatima contributed equally to this work.

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  1. National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Alig Marg, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Anjali Anjali, Urooj Fatima & Muthappa Senthil-Kumar

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  1. Anjali Anjali
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  2. Urooj Fatima
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  3. Muthappa Senthil-Kumar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muthappa Senthil-Kumar.

Additional information

Communicated by Manchikatla Venkat Rajam.

Corresponding editor: Manchikatla Venkat Rajam

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Anjali, A., Fatima, U. & Senthil-Kumar, M. The ins and outs of SWEETs in plants: Current understanding of the basics and their prospects in crop improvement. J Biosci 46, 100 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-021-00227-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-021-00227-6

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