Plants are generally well adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. Even though they have notably prospered in our planet, stressful conditions such as salinity, drought and cold or heat, which are increasingly being observed worldwide in the context of the ongoing climate changes, limit their growth and productivity. Behind the remarkable ability of plants to cope with these stresses and still thrive, sophisticated and efficient mechanisms to re-establish and maintain ion and cellular homeostasis are involved. Among the plant arsenal to maintain homeostasis are efficient stress sensing and signaling mechanisms, plant cell detoxification systems, compatible solute and osmoprotectant accumulation and a vital rearrangement of solute transport and compartmentation. The key role of solute transport systems and signaling proteins in cellular homeostasis is addressed in the present work. The full understanding of the plant cell complex defense mechanisms under stress may allow for the engineering of more tolerant plants or the optimization of cultivation practices to improve yield and productivity, which is crucial at the present time as food resources are progressively scarce.

Sugars Will Eventually be Exported Transporters (SWEETs) have important roles in numerous physiological mechanisms where sugar efflux is critical, including phloem loading, nectar secretion, seed nutrient filling, among other less expected functions. They mediate low affinity and high capacity transport, and in angiosperms this family is composed by 20 paralogs on average. As SWEETs facilitate the efflux of sugars, they are highly susceptible to hijacking by pathogens, making them central players in plant–pathogen interaction. For instance, several species from the Xanthomonas genus are able to upregulate the transcription of SWEET transporters in rice (Oryza sativa), upon the secretion of transcription-activator-like effectors. Other pathogens, such as Botrytis cinerea or Erysiphe necator, are also capable of increasing SWEET expression. However, the opposite behavior has been observed in some cases, as overexpression of the tonoplast AtSWEET2 during Pythium irregulare infection restricted sugar availability to the pathogen, rendering plants more resistant. Therefore, a clear-cut role for SWEET transporters during plant–pathogen interactions has so far been difficult to define, as the metabolic signatures and their regulatory nodes, which decide the susceptibility or resistance responses, remain poorly understood. This fuels the still ongoing scientific question: what roles can SWEETs play during plant–pathogen interaction? Likewise, the roles of SWEET transporters in response to abiotic stresses are little understood. Here, in addition to their relevance in biotic stress, we also provide a small glimpse of SWEETs importance during plant abiotic stress, and briefly debate their importance in the particular case of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) due to its socioeconomic impact.

Polyols are important metabolites that often function as carbon and energy sources and/or osmoprotective solutes in some plants. In grapevine, and in the grape berry in particular, the molecular aspects of polyol transport and metabolism and their physiological relevance are virtually unknown to date. Here, the biochemical function of a grapevine fruit mesocarp polyol transporter (VvPLT1) was characterized after its heterologous expression in yeast. This H⁺-dependent plasma membrane carrier transports mannitol (K_m=5.4mM) and sorbitol (K_m=9.5mM) over a broad range of polyols and monosaccharides. Water-deficit stress triggered an increase in the expression of VvPLT1 at the fully mature stage, allowing increased polyol uptake into pulp cells. Plant polyol dehydrogenases are oxireductases that reversibly oxidize polyols into monosaccharides. Mannitol catabolism in grape cells (K_m=30.1mM mannitol) and mature berry mesocarps (K_m=79mM) was, like sorbitol dehydrogenase activity, strongly inhibited (50–75%) by water-deficit stress. Simultaneously, fructose reduction into polyols via mannitol and sorbitol dehydrogenases was stimulated, contributing to their higher intracellular concentrations in water-deficit stress. Accordingly, the concentrations of mannitol, sorbitol, galactinol, myo-inositol, and dulcitol were significantly higher in berry mesocarps from water-deficit-stressed Tempranillo grapevines. Metabolomic profiling of the berry pulp by GC-TOF-MS also revealed many other changes in its composition induced by water deficit. The impact of polyols on grape berry composition and plant response to water deficit stress, via modifications in polyol transport and metabolism, was analysed by integrating metabolomics with transcriptional analysis and biochemical approaches.

The intracellular accumulation of organic compatible solutes functioning as osmoprotectants, such as polyols, is an important response mechanism of several plants to drought and salinity. In Olea europaea a mannitol transport system (OeMaT1) was previously characterized as a key player in plant response to salinity. In the present study, heterotrophic sink models, such as olive cell suspensions and fruit tissues, and source leaves were used for analytical, biochemical and molecular studies. The kinetic parameters of mannitol dehydrogenase (MTD) determined in cells growing in mannitol, at 25°C and pH 9.0, were as follows: K_m, 54.5 mM mannitol; and V_max, 0.47 μmol h⁻¹ mg⁻¹ protein. The corresponding cDNA was cloned and named OeMTD1. OeMTD1 expression was correlated with MTD activity, OeMaT1 expression and carrier-mediated mannitol transport in mannitol- and sucrose-grown cells. Furthermore, sucrose-grown cells displayed only residual OeMTD activity, even though high levels of OeMTD1 transcription were observed. There is evidence that OeMTD is regulated at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. MTD activity and OeMTD1 expression were repressed after Na⁺, K⁺ and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatments, in both mannitol- and sucrose-grown cells. In contrast, salt and drought significantly increased mannitol transport activity and OeMaT1 expression. Taken together, these studies support that olive trees cope with salinity and drought by coordinating mannitol transport with intracellular metabolism.

Drought, elevated air temperature and high evaporative demand are increasingly frequent during summer in grape growing areas like the Mediterranean basin, limiting grapevine productivity and berry quality. The foliar exogenous application of kaolin, a radiation-reflecting inert mineral, has proven effective in mitigating the negative impacts of these abiotic stresses in grapevine and other fruit crops, however, little is known about its influence on the composition of the grape berry and on key molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathways notably important for grape berry quality parameters. Here, we performed a thorough molecular and biochemical analysis to assess how foliar application of kaolin influences major secondary metabolism pathways associated with berry quality-traits, leading to biosynthesis of phenolics and anthocyanins, with a focus on the phenylpropanoid, flavonoid (both flavonol- and anthocyanin-biosynthetic) and stilbenoid pathways. In grape berries from different ripening stages, targeted transcriptional analysis by qPCR revealed that several genes involved in these pathways – VvPAL1, VvC4H1, VvSTSs, VvCHS1, VvFLS1, VvDFR, and VvUFGT - were more expressed in response to the foliar kaolin treatment, particularly in the latter maturation phases. In agreement, enzymatic activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), flavonol synthase (FLS) and UDP-glucose:flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UFGT) were about 2-fold higher in mature or fully mature berries from kaolin-treated plants, suggesting regulation also at a transcriptional level. The expression of the glutathione S-transferase VvGST4, and of the tonoplast anthocyanin transporters VvMATE1 and VvABCC1 were also all significantly increased at véraison and in mature berries, thus, when anthocyanins start to accumulate in the vacuole, in agreement with previously observed higher total concentrations of phenolics and anthocyanins in berries from kaolin-treated plants, especially at full maturity stage. Metabolomic analysis by reverse phase LC-QTOF-MS confirmed several kaolin-induced modifications including a significant increase in the quantities of several secondary metabolites including flavonoids and anthocyanins in the latter ripening stages, probably resulting from the general stimulation of the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways.