A Comparison of the Sucrose Transporter Systems of Different Plant Species

The sucrose uptake behaviour of many different plant species is characterised by the presence of at least two components with distinct kinetic properties. These include at least one high‐affinity and one low‐affinity transport system. All known sucrose transporters from higher plants fall into one of three large subfamilies, according to phylogenetic analysis. Apparently, the largest subfamily, the SUT1 subfamily, exclusively consists of high‐affinity sucrose transporters from dicotyledons, whereas none of the transporters from monocotyledonous plants groups within this subfamily. The other two subfamilies of sucrose transporter‐like proteins are either low‐affinity transporter or putative sucrose‐sensing proteins. Most of the known sucrose transporters from monocotyledons are closely related to the SUT2 subfamily and include high‐affinity transporters, suggesting a different evolutionary origin of dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous sucrose transporter gene families.