Skip to main content

Sucrose and Starch Metabolism

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Lotus japonicus Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

The metabolism of starch and sucrose fuels all aspects of plant growth and development. Over the last decade, significant advances have been made in our understanding of the metabolism of these compounds through the use of model systems, mainly Arabidopsis. Legume species are characterised by their capacity to form symbioses with Rhizobium, a nitrogen-fixing bacterium, leading to up to half the carbon assimilated in photosynthesis being sequestered to their roots. Study of a legume model may therefore increase our knowledge about carbohydrate turnover. We review here the resources available and the contribution that research on Lotus japonicus has made to our knowledge of sucrose breakdown and starch metabolism in relation to plant growth and development processes, especially processes that are legume specific.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barratt DH, Derbyshire P, Findlay K, Pike M, Wellner N, Lunn J, Feil R, Simpson C, Maule AJ, Smith AM (2009) Normal growth of Arabidopsis requires cytosolic invertase but not sucrose synthase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:13124–13129

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Caspar T, Huber SC, Somerville C (1985) Alterations in growth, photosynthesis, and respiration in a starchless mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) deficient in chloroplast phosphoglucomutase activity. Plant Physiol 79:11–17

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Craig J, Barratt P, Tatge H, Dejardin A, Handley L, Gardner CD, Barber L, Wang T, Hedley C, Martin C, Smith AM (1999) Mutations at the rug4 locus alter the carbon and nitrogen metabolism of pea plants through an effect on sucrose synthase. Plant J 17:353–362

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dam S, Laursen BS, Ornfelt JH, Jochimsen B, Staerfeldt HH, Friis C, Nielsen K, Goffard N, Besenbacher S, Krusell L, Sato S, Tabata S, Thøgersen IB, Enghild JJ, Stougaard J (2009) The proteome of seed development in the model legume Lotus japonicus. Plant Physiol 149:1325–1340

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Delatte D, Umhang M, Trevisan M, Eicke S, Thorneycroft D, Smith SM, Zeeman SC (2006) Evidence for distinct mechanisms of starch granule breakdown in plants. J Biol Chem 281:12050–12059

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fulton DC, Stettler M, Mettler T, Vaughan CK, Li J, Francisco P, Gil M, Reinhold H, Eicke S, Messerli G, Dorken G, Halliday K, Smith AM, Smith SM, Zeeman SC (2008) β-AMYLASE4, a noncatalytic protein required for starch breakdown, acts upstream of three active β-amylases in Arabidopsis chloroplasts. Plant Cell 20:1040–1058

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gana JA, Kalengamaliro NE, Cunningham SM, Volenec JJ (1998) Expression of β-amylase from alfalfa taproots. Plant Physiol 118:1495–1505

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Glaring MA, Zygadlo A, Thorneycroft D, Schulz A, Smith SM, Blennow A, Baunsgaard L (2007) An extra-plastidial α-glucan, water dikinase from Arabidopsis phosphorylates amylopectin in vitro and is not necessary for transient starch degradation. J Exp Bot 58:3949–3960

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gutjahr C, Novero M, Welham T, Wang T, Bonfante P (2011) Root starch accumulation in response to arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization differs among Lotus japonicus starch mutants. Planta 234:639–646

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison CJ, Hedley CL, Wang TL (1998) Evidence that the rug3 locus of pea (Pisum sativum L.) encodes plastidial phosphoglucomutase confirms that the imported substrate for starch synthesis in pea amyloplasts is glucose-6-phosphate. Plant J 13:753–762

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrand D, Hymowitz T (1981) Role of β-amylase in starch metabolism during soybean seed development and germination. Physiol Plant 53:429–434

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Horst I, Welham T, Kelly S, Kaneko T, Sato S, Tabata S, Parniske M, Wang TL (2007) TILLING mutants of Lotus japonicus reveal that nitrogen assimilation and fixation can occur in the absence of nodule-enhanced sucrose synthase. Plant Physiol 144:806–820

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • James MG, Denyer K, Myers AM (2003) Starch synthesis in the cereal endosperm. Curr Opin Plant Biol 6:215–222

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kim W-S, Krishnan HB (2010) The lack of beta-amylase activity in soybean cultivar Altona sp 1 is associated with a 1.2 kb deletion in the 5′ region of beta-amylase I gene. Crop Sci 50:1942–1949

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kötting O, Kossmann J, Zeeman SC, Lloyd JR (2010) Regulation of starch metabolism: the age of enlightenment? Curr Opin Plant Biol 13:321–329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lunn JE, MacRae E (2003) New complexities in the synthesis of sucrose. Curr Opin Plant Biol 6:208–214

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oldroyd GED (2013) Speak, friend, and enter: signalling systems that promote beneficial symbiotic associations in plants. Nat Rev Microbiol 11:252–263

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Monma M, Sugimoto T, Monma M, Kawamura Y, Saio K (1991) Starch breakdown in developing soybean seeds (Glycine max cv. Enrei). Agric Biol Chem 55:67–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reinhold H, Soyk S, Simkova K, Hostettler C, Marafino J, Mainiero S, Vaughan CK, Monroe JD, Zeeman SC (2011) β-Amylase–like proteins function as transcription factors in Arabidopsis, controlling shoot growth and development. Plant Cell 23:1391–1403

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ruzanski C, Smirnova J, Rejzek M, Cockburn D, Pedersen HL, Pike M, Willats WGT, Svensson B, Steup M, Ebenhöh O, Smith AM, Field RA (2013) A bacterial glucanotransferase can replace the complex maltose metabolism required for starch-to-sucrose conversion in leaves at night. J Biol Chem 288:28581–28598

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Santelia D, Kötting O, Seung D, Schubert M, Thalmann M, Bischof S, Meekins DA, Lutz A, Patron N, Gentry MS, Allain FH-T, Zeeman SC (2012) The phosphoglucan phosphatase LSF2 (like sex four 2) dephosphorylates starch at the C3-position in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 23:4096–4111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sato S, Nakamura Y, Kaneko T, Asamizu E, Kato T, Nakao M, Sasamoto S, Watanabe A, Ono A, Kawashima K, Fujishiro T, Katoh M, Kohara M, Kishida Y, Minami C, Nakayama S, Nakazaki N, Shimizu Y, Shinpo S, Takahashi C, Wada T, Yamada M, Ohmido N, Hayashi M, Fukui K, Baba T, Nakamichi T, Mori H, Tabata S (2008) Genome structure of the legume, Lotus japonicus. DNA Res 15:227–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AM (2012) Starch in the Arabidopsis plant. Starch/Staerke 64:421–434

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith AM, Zeeman SC, Smith SM (2005) Starch degradation. Annu Rev Plant Biol 56:73–97

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sparla F, Costa A, Schiavo FL, Pupillo P, Trost P (2006) Redox regulation of a novel plastid-targeted β-amylase of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol 141:840–850

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Stitt M, Zeeman SC (2012) Starch turnover: pathways, regulation and role in growth. Curr Opin Plant Biol 15:282–292

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Streb S, Delatte T, Umhang M, Eicke S, Schorderet M, Reinhardt D, Zeeman SC (2008) Starch granule biosynthesis in Arabidopsis is abolished by removal of all debranching enzymes but restored by the subsequent removal of an endoamylase. Plant Cell 20:3448–3466

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Streb S, Zeeman S (2012) Starch metabolism in Arabidopsis. In: The Arabidopsis Book 10:e0160, doi: 10.1199/tab.0160

  • Streb S, Egli B, Eicke S, Zeeman SC (2009) The debate on the pathway of starch synthesis: a closer look at low-starch mutants lacking plastidial phosphoglucomutase supports the chloroplast-localized pathway. Plant Physiol 151:1769–1772

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sulpice R, Pyl ET, Ishihara H, Trenkamp S, Steinfath M, Witucka-Wall H, Gibon Y, Usadel B, Poree F, Piques MC, Von Korff M, Steinhauser MC, Keurentjes JJB, Guenther M, Hoehne M, Selbig J, Fernie AR, Altmann T, Stitt M (2009) Starch as a major integrator in the regulation of plant growth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:10348–10353

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vargas WA, Salerno GL (2010) The Cinderella story of sucrose hydrolysis: alkaline/neutral invertases, from cyanobacteria to unforeseen roles in plant cytosol and organelles. Plant Sci 178:1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Verdier J, Torres-Jerez I, Wang M, Andriankaja A, Allen SN, He J, Tang Y, Murray JD, Udvardi MK (2013) Establishment of the Lotus japonicus Gene Expression Atlas (LjGEA) and its use to explore legume seed maturation. Plant J 74:351–362

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vriet C, Welham T, Brachmann A, Pike M, Pike J, Perry J, Parniske M, Sato S, Tabata S, Smith AM, Wang TL (2010) A suite of Lotus japonicus starch mutants reveals both conserved and novel features of starch metabolism. Plant Physiol 154:643–655

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vriet C, Smith AM, Wang TL (2013) Root starch reserves are necessary for vigorous re-growth following cutting back in Lotus japonicus. PLOS ONE (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang TL, Bogracheva TY, Hedley CL (1998) Starch: As simple as A, B, C? J Exp Bot 49:481–502

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Welham T, Pike J, Horst I, Flemetakis E, Katinakis P, Kaneko T, Sato S, Tabata S, Perry J, Parniske M, Wang TL (2009) A cytosolic invertase is required for normal growth and cell development in the model legume, Lotus japonicus. J Exp Bot 60:3353–3365

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yu TS, Zeeman SC, Thorneycroft D, Fulton DC, Dunstan H, Lue WL, Hegemann B, Tung SY, Umemoto T, Chapple A, Tsai DL, Wang SM, Smith AM, Chen J, Smith SM (2005) α-amylase is not required for breakdown of transitory starch in Arabidopsis leaves. J Biol Chem 280:9773–9779

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zeeman SC, Thorneycroft D, Schupp N, Chapple A, Weck M, Dunstan H, Halidmann P, Bechtold N, Smith AM, Smith SM (2004) Plastidial α-glucan phosphorylase is not required for starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves but has a role in the tolerance of abiotic stress. Plant Physiol 135:849–858

    Article  PubMed  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zeeman SC, Kossmann J, Smith AM (2010) Starch: its metabolism, evolution, and biotechnological modification in plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 61:209–234

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Trevor L. Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Vriet, C., Edwards, A., Smith, A.M., Wang, T.L. (2014). Sucrose and Starch Metabolism. In: Tabata, S., Stougaard, J. (eds) The Lotus japonicus Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44270-8_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics