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Synchronization of developmental, molecular and metabolic aspects of source–sink interactions

Abstract

Plants have evolved a multitude of strategies to adjust their growth according to external and internal signals. Interconnected metabolic and phytohormonal signalling networks allow adaption to changing environmental and developmental conditions and ensure the survival of species in fluctuating environments. In agricultural ecosystems, many of these adaptive responses are not required or may even limit crop yield, as they prevent plants from realizing their fullest potential. By lifting source and sink activities to their maximum, massive yield increases can be foreseen, potentially closing the future yield gap resulting from an increasing world population and the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. To do so, a better understanding of the interplay between metabolic and developmental processes is required. In the past, these processes have been tackled independently from each other, but coordinated efforts are required to understand the fine mechanics of source–sink relations and thus optimize crop yield. Here, we describe approaches to design high-yielding crop plants utilizing strategies derived from current metabolic concepts and our understanding of the molecular processes determining sink development.

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Fig. 1: Phloem loading and unloading in potato.
Fig. 2: Unloading and post-phloem transport in cassava tuberous roots.

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Acknowledgements

Research in the authors’ laboratories was supported by the following grants: the cassava source–sink (CASS) project of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (to A.R.F., H.E.N., M.S. and U.S.); the ERA-CAPs project SourSi (to A.R.F. and L.J.S.); the BIO2015-3019-EXP grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and the PCIN-2017-032 CONCERT-JAPAN project financed by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (to S.P.); Australian Research Council DP180103834 (to Y.L.R.); the US National Science Foundation (grant no. IOS-1457183); the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI; grant no. 2017-67013-26158) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (to M.T.); the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology of Primary Producers (Academy of Finland CoE program 2014–2019; grant no. 271832); the Gatsby Foundation (grant no. GAT3395/PR3); the University of Helsinki (grant no. 799992091); the European Research Council Advanced Investigator Grant SYMDEV (grant no. 323052; to Y.H.); the BMBF (grant no. 031B0191); the DFG (SPP1530: WA3639/1-2, 2-1); and the Max-Planck-Society (to V.W.). We additionally thank D. Ko and R. Ruonala for their comments on the manuscript.

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The conceptual framework for this Review was developed by A.R.F., S.S. and U.S. A.R.F., C.W.B.B., Y.H., H.E.N., S.P., Y.L.R., M.S., L.J.S., M.T., V.W., S.S. and U.S. contributed sections of the manuscript and read and discussed the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alisdair R. Fernie, Sophia Sonnewald or Uwe Sonnewald.

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Peer review information Nature Plants thanks Christine Foyer and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Fernie, A.R., Bachem, C.W.B., Helariutta, Y. et al. Synchronization of developmental, molecular and metabolic aspects of source–sink interactions. Nat. Plants 6, 55–66 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-020-0590-x

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