Trehalose 6-phosphate and hormone signalling crosstalk.
Paul MJ, Sahu PP, Puranik S, Griffiths CA
Plant Signaling
Every time a stressed tomato plant drops its flowers before setting fruit, a hormone-sugar tug-of-war is playing out — and understanding that trade-off is the key to plants that feed themselves through drought without sacrificing your harvest.
Plants have an internal sugar sensor that acts like a fuel gauge, telling them how much energy is available to grow. This sensor doesn't work alone — it constantly talks to plant hormones that control branching, root growth, seed development, and how wide leaves open their pores. Scientists are mapping exactly how this conversation works, because disrupting it in crops could help plants stay productive even when conditions get tough.
Key Findings
Trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) engages in reciprocal crosstalk with at least three major plant hormones — auxin, strigolactones, and abscisic acid — each pair regulating distinct developmental processes like shoot branching and stomatal opening.
Two master energy-sensing proteins, SnRK1 and TOR, act as a central hub where T6P and hormone signals converge, coordinating the plant's growth-versus-survival trade-off.
Analysis of promoter regions in Arabidopsis trehalose enzyme genes confirms that auxin and abscisic acid are major regulators, with methyl jasmonate (a stress hormone) also showing strong regulatory influence.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Plants use a sugar-derived molecule called trehalose 6-phosphate to sense how much energy is available and coordinate growth accordingly. This review reveals how that sugar signal intertwines with plant hormones to control everything from branching to seed filling — with real implications for breeding more productive crops.
Abstract Preview
Hormone and sugar signalling pathways have evolved from intermediates of central metabolic flow into conserved core interacting regulatory modules that balance resource acquisition and growth. Horm...
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