Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Evolution of sucrose synthesis.

John Edward Lunn¹

¹Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia. john.lunn@csiro.au

Plant Physiology

|April 16, 2002

Summary

Cyanobacteria and proteobacteria synthesize sucrose (Suc). Researchers confirmed a Synechocystis gene encodes a functional sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase (SPP), suggesting sucrose synthesis originated in proteobacteria or a common ancestor.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatase family in plants.

Physiologia plantarum·2023

Same author

The Role of Trehalose 6-Phosphate (Tre6P) in Plant Metabolism and Development.

Annual review of plant biology·2021

Same author

SnRK1 and trehalose 6-phosphate - two ancient pathways converge to regulate plant metabolism and growth.

Current opinion in plant biology·2020

Same author

Mal de Río Cuarto virus infection causes hormone imbalance and sugar accumulation in wheat leaves.

BMC plant biology·2019

Same author

Quantification of Soluble Sugars and Sugar Alcohols by LC-MS/MS.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2018

Same author

Carbon Supply and the Regulation of Cell Wall Synthesis.

Molecular plant·2017

Area of Science:

Biochemistry
Microbiology
Molecular Biology

Background:

Sucrose (Suc) synthesis is unique to prokaryotes, specifically cyanobacteria and proteobacteria.
Genes for Suc-P synthase (sps) and Suc synthase (sus) have been identified in cyanobacteria.
A Synechocystis gene shows homology to maize sucrose-6-phosphate phosphatase (SPP).

Purpose of the Study:

To confirm the function of a putative SPP gene from Synechocystis.
To characterize the enzymatic properties of Synechocystis SPP.
To investigate the evolutionary origin of sucrose synthesis in prokaryotes.

Main Methods:

Heterologous expression of the Synechocystis spp gene in Escherichia coli.
Enzymatic assays to determine substrate specificity, Mg(2+) dependence, and specific activity of the expressed SPP.
Genomic database searches for homologs of SPP, sps, and sus genes in various prokaryotes.

Main Results:

The Synechocystis gene encodes a functional SPP enzyme with high specificity for Suc-6(F)-P.
Synechocystis SPP is Mg(2+) dependent and exhibits significant specific activity.
Homologs of SPP, sps, and sus genes are found in diverse cyanobacteria and proteobacteria.

Conclusions:

The Synechocystis SPP enzyme belongs to the haloacid dehalogenase superfamily.
The distribution of sucrose synthesis genes suggests an origin in proteobacteria or a common ancestor with cyanobacteria.

Related Experiment Videos