UDP-Glucose: A Potential Signaling Molecule in Plants?

• Main Authors: Henry Christopher Janse van Rensburg, Wim Van den Ende
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-01-01
• Series: Frontiers in Plant Science
• Subjects: UDP-glucose; sugar phosphates; sugar signaling; UGPase; UAPase
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.02230/full

This perspective paper focuses on the most recent results suggesting a potential role for UDP-Glucose as a signaling molecule in plants. In animals, UDP-Glucose is well-established as an extracellular signaling molecule that is sensed by G-protein coupled receptors, activating several downstream defense mechanisms. Recent studies have shown that abnormal growth occurred in both vegetative and reproductive tissue of plants with reduced UDP-Glucose levels, and this could be rescued by exogenous UDP-Glucose. In plants with increased biomass accumulation, the genes involved in UDP-Glucose production were up-regulated. However, excessive endogenous accumulation of UDP-Glucose induced programmed cell death (PCD), and this could also be obtained by exogenous UDP-Glucose application. Plants with decreased UDP-glucose were insensitive to pathogen induced PCD. We speculate that UDP-Glucose acts as an extracellular signaling molecule in plants, and that it may be perceived as a damage-associated molecular pattern.