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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415030
Research Project: Improving Sugarbeet Productivity and Sustainability through Genetic, Genomic, Physiological, and Phytopathological Approaches

Location: Sugarbeet Research

Title: Sugarbeet root storage conditions and plant genetics affect sugar transporter gene expression with likely effects on postharvest sucrose losses

Author
item Fugate, Karen
item FINGER, FERNANDO - Universidade Federal De Vicosa
item Eide, John

Submitted to: PH96 International Postharvest Science Conference New Zealand
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sugar transporters effect movement of sugars across cellular membranes and play a critical role in relocalizing carbon substrates within cells, tissues, and organs to support their metabolism and response to stress. Sugar transporters are especially important for postharvest sugarbeet roots since the export of sucrose from the vacuole of parenchymal storage cells not only fuels root metabolism but also drives sucrose loss during storage. Despite the obvious importance of sugar transporters to sugarbeet root postharvest metabolism, the identity and expression of sugarbeet root sugar transporters during storage have never been examined. Therefore, the expression of sugar transporters in harvested and stored sugarbeet roots was determined with respect to storage duration and temperature and in genotypes that likely differed in rates of postharvest sucrose utilization due to differences in respiration rate. Highly and differentially expressed sugar transporters largely belonged to the SWEET (sugars will eventually be exported transporter) and TST (tonoplast sugar transporter) families of sugar transporters. Eight SWEET genes and two TST genes were expressed in postharvest sugarbeet roots. The expression of these SWEET and TST genes generally increased with time in storage, but was only minimally affected by storage temperature. SWEET N3 and TST 2.1a were the most highly expressed and upregulated sugar transporter genes during storage. These genes were also differentially expressed in lines with genetic differences in storage respiration rate. Overall, these results highlight the likely importance of SWEET and TST genes for postharvest sugarbeet root metabolism and identify gene candidates that may have roles in storage sucrose loss.