Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2025, Vol. 60 ›› Issue (4): 640-655.DOI: 10.11983/CBB24158  cstr: 32102.14.CBB24158

• SPECIAL TOPICS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Functions of Plant SWEET Transporters and Their Regulatory Mechanisms in Stress Responses

Hongmei Wang, Wei Yuan, Fang Xue, Zhaocong Zhang, Kun Liu, Silong Chen*()   

  1. College of Food Science and Biology, Hebei University of Science and Technology, Shijiazhuang 050018, China
  • Received:2024-10-18 Accepted:2025-01-20 Online:2025-07-10 Published:2025-01-21
  • Contact: *E-mail: CHSL99@163.com

Abstract: SWEETs are a recently discovered family of bidirectional sugar transporters that are widely present in all organisms. Their high substrate specificity for hexoses (such as glucose, fructose and galactose) and sucrose in different clades underlines their significance in regulating sugar signaling during various developmental and physiological processes in plants. This review primarily focuses on how SWEETs precisely respond to various biotic and abiotic stresses. We summarized systematically 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 complex biological functions and regulating mechanisms of SWEET transporters, and provides valuable information 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