Fructan Metabolism and Stress Resilience in Cereals
Summary
Fructans are water-soluble polymers of fructose that accumulate predominantly in the stems and storage organs of many cereals, acting as dynamic carbon reserves and osmoregulatory agents. Synthesised by fructosyltransferases and mobilised by fructan exohydrolases, these oligo- and polysaccharides can buffer grain filling under conditions of reduced photosynthesis, such as drought and cold. Variation in fructan chain length, or degree of polymerisation, influences membrane stabilisation, osmotic adjustment and scavenging of reactive oxygen species. Simultaneous synthesis and depolymerisation enable rapid redistribution of carbon to sinks, while small fructans may serve as mobile signalling molecules during stress. Genetic diversity among wheat and ryegrass genotypes underpins contrasting strategies of fructan accumulation and remobilisation, offering targets for breeding stress-resilient cultivars with improved yield stability under abiotic challenges.
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Fructan Metabolism and Stress Resilience in Cereals publication trend
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Technical terms
Fructan: A polymer of fructose units serving as a storage carbohydrate and osmotic regulator in plants.
Fructosyltransferase: An enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of fructans from sucrose donors.
Fructan exohydrolase: An enzyme responsible for cleaving fructan chains to release fructose units.
Water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC): Soluble sugars in plant tissues, including fructans and sucrose, crucial for carbon buffering under stress.
Degree of polymerisation (DP): The number of monosaccharide units in a polymer chain, influencing fructan function.
References
- Multifunctional fructans and raffinose family oligosaccharides. Frontiers in Plant Science (2013).
- Wheat genotypic variation in dynamic fluxes of WSC components in different stem segments under drought during grain filling. Frontiers in Plant Science (2015).
- Fructan metabolism and changes in fructan composition during cold acclimation in perennial ryegrass. Frontiers in Plant Science (2015).
- Favorable Alleles for Stem Water-Soluble Carbohydrates Identified by Association Analysis Contribute to Grain Weight under Drought Stress Conditions in Wheat. PLOS ONE (2015).
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