Aspects of sucrose transport in stem parenchyma of sweet sorghum

Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a sucrose-storing crop with a storage tissue anatomically similar to that of sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). However, recent evidence suggests that sweet sorghum may be biochemically different from sugarcane. 14C-sucrose uptake was studied in excised tissue discs from fully-elongated internodes of Rio sweet sorghum. Washout studies gave results consistent with a 3 compartment system. After 3 hours of uptake, most of the 14C was found in the vacuole compartment, and was determined by HPLC to be sucrose. Total sucrose uptake consisted of a PCMBS-sensitive (active) and a PCMBS-insensitive (passive) component. Active sucrose uptake had a pH optimum of 4.5. Total sucrose uptake was negatively correlated with the internal sucrose content of the tissue. Fructosyl-labelled 14C-sucrose was not randomized during uptake, suggesting that sucrose cleavage is not a requirement for sucrose uptake in sweet sorghum. This data suggests that in sweet sorghum, sucrose is transported intact by a specific carrier, as opposed to the sucrose-cleavage-and-resynthesis transport system that apparently operates in sugarcane