Journal of Energy Bioscience 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 248-262 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/jeb 256 8.3 Case 3: sucrose transport and drought resistance in wheat Sucrose transport is very important in plants, especially under stress. It moves sugar from leaves to other parts. In wheat, drought slows sugar movement and reduces yield. Research shows that drought-tolerant wheat keeps higher invertase activity and increases the expression of sugar transport proteins like STP, SWEET, and SUT. These proteins help move sucrose to grains, so the plant can still produce more fertile flowers and grains under drought (Li et al., 2024b). Also, spraying spermidine after drought can help move sugar in the spikes and stems, increasing fertile flower numbers. Adding zinc can raise SUT1B expression, improve sucrose transport and starch accumulation, and help maintain yield under drought (Zarea and Karimi, 2023). 9 Challenges and Future Prospects in Plant Sugar Research 9.1 Knowledge gaps in sugar signaling and metabolic integration Hexokinase (HXK), SnRK1, and TOR are main factors that control sugar and energy signals. But we still don’t know well how these signals work in different plants, where they overlap, or how they changed during evolution. Sugar signals also connect with nitrogen and hormones, but this system is very complex (Sakr et al., 2018). We also know little about how sugar-related proteins are changed after they are made and what genes they control. This makes it hard to use sugar signals to improve crops (Eom et al., 2024). The link between sugar and microbes is also not clear. Sugar may help or harm microbes, but we don’t understand how. We still don’t know how sugar moves in infected plants, how it spreads between cells, or what role transport proteins play in disease resistance (Bezrutczyk et al., 2018). 9.2 Balancing sugar accumulation, growth, and stress resistance High sugar levels are good for crops like sugarcane and fruits, but too much sugar can slow growth and make plants weaker under stress. Sugar can also act as a signal or a protector to help plants fight stress by turning on certain genes and processes (Saddhe et al., 2020; Eom et al., 2024). To solve this, we need to understand how sugar and nitrogen metabolism work together and how they affect other processes (Sakr et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2025a). Future studies should combine photosynthesis, sugar storage, and stress response, especially as climate change becomes more serious. 9.3 Emerging Tools: CRISPR, Systems Biology, and Metabolic Modeling CRISPR/Cas tools make it easier to change genes related to sugar production, transport, and signaling. Scientists have used CRISPR in many crops to improve yield, quality, and stress tolerance, even in plants with big genomes like sugarcane. But editing large genomes is still hard (Ricroch et al., 2017; Zhu et al., 2020; Hussin et al., 2022; Devi et al., 2023). Synthetic biology and systems modeling also help us understand sugar metabolism. Machine learning and omics methods are now used to study sugar pathways and to design better ways to improve crops. But there are still limits, like poor control of gene networks and weak tools for gene delivery (Lüet al., 2022; Cardiff et al., 2024). 9.4 Future Opportunities for Breeding and Sustainable Agriculture Knowing more about sugar signals and metabolism can help us grow crops that yield more, have better nutrition, and resist stress. CRISPR can quickly find and change key genes, helping crops deal with climate change (Ricroch et al., 2017; Zhu et al., 2020; Hussin et al., 2022; Devi et al., 2023). Improving how plants use sugar and nitrogen can also make farming more sustainable and reduce pollution (Liu et al., 2025a). Sugar studies can support other fields too, like bioenergy, biomaterials, and green industries. For example, sugar-based seed treatments (biopriming) can help seeds sprout and grow better under stress (Bozdar et al., 2025). In the future, combining molecular biology, systems research, and smart breeding will help create crops that meet food and environmental needs. Acknowledgments The author thanks Ms Cherry Xuan for providing support for this research.
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