The Importance of the Circadian Clock in Regulating Plant Metabolism

Carbohydrates are the primary energy source for plant development. Plants synthesize sucrose in source organs and transport them to sink organs during plant growth. This metabolism is sensitive to environmental changes in light quantity, quality, and photoperiod. In the daytime, the synthesis of sucrose and starch accumulates, and starch is degraded at nighttime. The circadian clock genes provide plants with information on the daily environmental changes and directly control many developmental processes, which are related to the path of primary metabolites throughout the life cycle. The circadian clock mechanism and processes of metabolism controlled by the circadian rhythm were studied in the model plant Arabidopsis and in the crops potato and rice. However, the translation of molecular mechanisms obtained from studies of model plants to crop plants is still difficult. Crop plants have specific organs such as edible seed and tuber that increase the size or accumulate valuable metabolites by harvestable metabolic components. Human consumers are interested in the regulation and promotion of these agriculturally significant crops. Circadian clock manipulation may suggest various strategies for the increased productivity of food crops through using environmental signal or overcoming environmental stress.