Biotech Updates

Sweet 17, New Sugar Transporter in Plants

April 17, 2013

SWEET 17, a sugar transporter protein in plants was found by researchers at INRA Versailles-Grignon to be responsible in fructose transport in plants. This discovery was released in the April issue of the journal Current Biology. The gene was found through molecular analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana obtained from Germany and Tajikistan and grown in different nitrogen concentrations.

The gene encoding for the SWEET 17 protein is a member of a family of proteins present in many organisms including humans, microorganisms and plants, some of which play a role in the transport of glucose or sucrose in the cell membrane. This research opens promising application in varying sugar composition of crop species for food and industrial purposes.

The original news can be seen In French at http://presse.inra.fr/Ressources/Communiques-de-presse/SWEET17-nouveau-transporteur-de-sucre-chez-les-plantes.