Improving rice photosynthesis and yield through trehalose 6-phosphate signalling

The biosynthetic route for the synthesis of trehalose in plants is through a low-flux pathway that leads to the accumulation of micromolar amounts of trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) and trehalose when sucrose is available. T6P accumulates in proportion to sucrose (Lunn et al., 2006) as an indispensable regulator of carbohydrate utilization (Schluepmann et al., 2003). At least some of the indispensability of T6P and its profound and widespread effects on plant growth and development can be explained through T6P inhibition of the SNF1-related protein kinase SnRK1 (Zhang et al., 2009), a central regulator of plant responses to carbon and energy status.