Abstract: SWEETs are newly discovered family of sugar transporters whose members widely exist in organisms and are highly conserved and facilitate the entry or export of sugars across the plant plasma membrane. A high substrate specificity for hexoses (glucose, fructose and galactose) and sucrose in different clade SWEETs members underlines their significance in response to many developmental and physiological processes through proper sugar signaling in plants. We focus on how SWEETs precisely respond to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, it delves into the regulatory mechanisms of SWEETs in response to environmental stresses at both the transcriptional level and the post-translational level and in multiple signal transduction pathways. This review aims to provide a novel perspective and deeper understanding of the complexly biological functions and regulating mechanisms of SWEET transporters, offering valuable references for future research on plant stress resistance and molecular breeding crops with high yield and disease resistance.

Key words: sugar transport, SWEET, stress response, regulating mechanism