Sucrose Metabolism in Plants under Drought Stress Condition: A Review

Abstract

Drought stress reduces photosynthetic rate and leading to depletion of the energy source and lowers the yield. Under drought stress, reduced turgor pressure cause inhibition of cell elongation and impaired mitosis leads to reduction in growth rate. Role of sucrose metabolism under drought adaptation and response of plants to stress in different tissues and at different developmental stages. Cytoplasmic sucrose synthesis is more under drought condition and there is differential expression in tolerant and susceptible cultivars. Under drought condition, plant start consuming its own sink for its survival thus reducing sucrose concentration. But reduction in sucrose concentration is less in drought tolerant plants. Drought stress induced an increase of the root/shoot ratio, which was due to the increased inhibition of biomass accumulation of shoots compared to roots. Drought stress enhanced the activities of sucrose metabolic enzymes and up-regulated the expression of genes such as SPS, SuSy and INV. In addition, drought stress up-regulated the expression levels of SWEET and SUC and promoted the transport of sucrose from source to sink.