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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Hexokinase-dependent sugar signaling represses fructan exohydrolase activity in Lolium perenne1

Jérémy Lothier A , Bertrand Lasseur B , Marie-Pascale Prud’homme C and Annette Morvan-Bertrand C D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A UMR-462 SAGAH, Université d’Angers, UFR Sciences2, Bd Lavoisier, F-49045 Angers Cedex, France.

B INRA/CNRS-URGV, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux, CP5708, F-91057 Evry cedex, France.

C UMR INRA-UCBN 950 EVA Ecophysiologie Végétale, Agronomie and nutritions NCS, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, Esplanade de la Paix, F-14032 CAEN cedex, France.

D Corresponding author. Email: annette.bertrand@unicaen.fr

Functional Plant Biology 37(12) 1151-1160 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP10086
Submitted: 16 April 2010  Accepted: 7 September 2010   Published: 17 November 2010

Abstract

Defoliation of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) by grazing animals leads to fructan mobilisation via an increase of fructan exohydrolase (FEH) activity. To highlight the regulation of fructan metabolism in perennial ryegrass, the role of sugars as signalling molecules for regulation of FEH activity after defoliation was evaluated. We used an original approach in planta by spraying stubble of defoliated plants (sugar starved plants) during 24 h with metabolisable sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose) and sugar analogues (3-O-methylglucose, mannose, lactulose, turanose, palatinose). Metabolisable sugar (glucose, fructose, sucrose) supply following defoliation led to the repression of FEH activity increase. The supply of mannose, which is phosphorylated by hexokinase but not further metabolisable, led to the same repressive effect, whereas 3-O-methylglucose, which is not a substrate for hexokinase, had no effect. These results indicate that hexoses could be sensed by hexokinase, triggering a chain of events leading to the repression of FEH activity. By contrast, it was not possible to determine the role of sucrose as a signal since the supply of sucrose analogues (lactulose, turanose and palatinose) enhanced internal hexose content.

Additional keywords: cutting, disaccharides, grassland, sugar starvation, sugar sensing.


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