Screening for Sugarcane Root Phenes Reveals That Reducing Tillering Does Not Lead to an Increased Root Mass Fraction.

Sugarcane root systems are poorly studied and understood due to the perennial nature, tall stature, and the long cropping cycle. Whilst some field studies gave insights into sugarcane root traits, there is no detailed description of root and root system traits available. The objectives of our work were to establish a baseline of sugarcane root trait values that will serve for future studies, and to characterize the degree of root system resilience when restricting tiller number.

Sucrose Transporter Localization and Function in Phloem Unloading in Developing Stems.

How sucrose transporters (SUTs) regulate phloem unloading in monocot stems is poorly understood and particularly so for species storing high Suc concentrations. To this end, Sorghum bicolor SUTs SbSUT1 and SbSUT5 were characterized by determining their transport properties heterologously expressed in yeast or Xenopus laevis oocytes, and their in planta cellular and subcellular localization. The plasma membrane-localized SbSUT1 and SbSUT5 exhibited a strong selectivity for Suc and high Suc affinities in X.

Tissue-specific transcriptome analysis within the maturing sugarcane stalk reveals spatial regulation in the expression of cellulose synthase and sucrose transporter gene families.

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) accumulates high concentrations of sucrose in its mature stalk and a considerable portion of carbohydrate metabolism is also devoted to cell wall synthesis and fibre production. We examined tissue-specific expression patterns to explore the spatial deployment of pathways responsible for sucrose accumulation and fibre synthesis within the stalk.

Poor Fertility, Short Longevity, and Low Abundance in the Soil Seed Bank Limit Volunteer Sugarcane from Seed.

The recent development of genetically modified sugarcane, with the aim of commercial production, requires an understanding of the potential risks of increased weediness of sugarcane as a result of spread and persistence of volunteer sugarcane. As sugarcane is propagated vegetatively from pieces of stalk and the seed plays no part in the production cycle, the fate of seed in the environment is yet to be studied. In this study, sugarcane seed samples, collected in fields over a 2-year period, were used to determine the overall level of sugarcane fertility, seed dormancy, and longevity of seed under field conditions.

High-throughput assessment of transgene copy number in sugarcane using real-time quantitative PCR.

Accurate and timely detection of transgene copy number in sugarcane is currently hampered by the requirement to use Southern blotting, needing relatively large amounts of genomic DNA and, therefore, the continued growth and maintenance of bulky plants in containment glasshouses. In addition, the sugarcane genome is both polyploid and aneuploid, complicating the identification of appropriate genes for use as references in the development of a high-throughput method. Using bioinformatic techniques followed by in vitro testing, two genes that appear to occur once per base genome of sugarcane were identified.

A soluble acid invertase is directed to the vacuole by a signal anchor mechanism.

Enzyme activities in the vacuole have an important impact on the net concentration of sucrose. In sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid), immunolabelling demonstrated that a soluble acid invertase (β-fructofuranosidase; EC 3.2.

Arabidopsis sucrose transporter AtSUC9. High-affinity transport activity, intragenic control of expression, and early flowering mutant phenotype.

AtSUC9 (At5g06170), a sucrose (Suc) transporter from Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) L. Heynh., was expressed in Xenopus (Xenopus laevis) oocytes, and transport activity was analyzed.

Sugarcane ShSUT1: analysis of sucrose transport activity and inhibition by sucralose.

Plant sucrose transporters (SUTs) are members of the glycoside-pentoside-hexuronide (GPH) cation symporter family (TC2.A.2) that is part of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS).

Sucrose partitioning between vascular bundles and storage parenchyma in the sugarcane stem: a potential role for the ShSUT1 sucrose transporter.

A transporter with homology to the SUT/SUC family of plant sucrose transporters was isolated from a sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid) stem cDNA library. The gene, designated ShSUT1, encodes a protein of 517 amino acids, including 12 predicted membrane-spanning domains and a large central cytoplasmic loop. ShSUT1 was demonstrated to be a functional sucrose transporter by expression in yeast.