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How vacuolar sugar transporters evolve and control cellular sugar homeostasis, organ development and crop yield

Nature Plants volume 11, pages 1102–1115 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sugar exchange among different subcellular compartments is central for achieving cellular sugar homeostasis and directly affects the yield and quality of many horticultural and field crops. While a portion of photosynthesis-originated sugars is metabolized through glycolysis upon entering the cytosol, the remainder is reversibly channelled to the vacuole, mediated by different families of vacuolar sugar transporter (VST) located on the vacuolar membrane, the tonoplast. Historically, sugar transporters operating on plasma membranes have been studied more than those on tonoplasts. Recently, however, several breakthroughs have shed light on (1) the distinct roles of VSTs in plant development and stress responses and (2) how seemingly unrelated classes of VSTs act together to modulate sugar influx into and efflux from the vacuoles. Here we evaluate these advances, analyse the evolution of VSTs and identify knowledge gaps and future directions for better understanding and manipulation of cytosolic–vacuolar sugar exchange to optimize plant performance.

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Fig. 1: Representative VSTs operating on the tonoplasts across flowering plant species.
Fig. 2: Gene copy number variations and representative synteny networks of the VST family.
Fig. 3: Coordination between VST subfamilies and their regulation from transcriptional to post-translational levels.

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Acknowledgements

Research in the authors’ laboratories was supported by the following grants: Program for the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFD2301000) to M.L.; National Natural Science Foundation of China (F2010123002) and Australian Research Council (DP180103834) to Y.-L.R.; and National Natural Science Foundation of China (32402537) and Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2023QNRC001) to L.Z.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Lingcheng Zhu, Jincheng Lan.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Crop Stress Resistance and High-Efficiency Production, College of Horticulture, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, China

    Lingcheng Zhu, Jincheng Lan, Tao Zhao, Mingjun Li & Yong-Ling Ruan

  2. Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Yong-Ling Ruan

Authors
  1. Lingcheng Zhu
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  2. Jincheng Lan
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  3. Tao Zhao
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Contributions

Y.-L.R. conceived the project and developed the conceptual framework of this article. J.L. and T.Z. prepared the section on evolution. L.Z., M.L. and Y.-L.R. drafted the manuscript. L.Z. and Y.-L.R. revised the manuscript with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Mingjun Li or Yong-Ling Ruan.

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Nature Plants thanks Botao Song, Isabel Keller and Aigen Fu for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2, Table 1 and Methods.

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Zhu, L., Lan, J., Zhao, T. et al. How vacuolar sugar transporters evolve and control cellular sugar homeostasis, organ development and crop yield. Nat. Plants 11, 1102–1115 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02009-6

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