Trehalose: A sugar molecule involved in temperature stress management in plants
Ali Raza,
Savita Bhardwaj,
Md Atikur Rahman,
Pedro García-Caparrós,
Madiha Habib,
Faisal Saeed,
Sidra Charagh,
Christine H. Foyer,
Kadambot H.M. Siddique,
Rajeev K. Varshney
Affiliations
Ali Raza
College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU), Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China
Savita Bhardwaj
Department of Botany, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144411, India; Department of Botany, MCM DAV College, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh 176001, India
Md Atikur Rahman
Grassland and Forage Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Cheonan 31000, Republic of Korea
Pedro García-Caparrós
Agronomy Department of Superior School Engineering, University of Almería, Almería, Spain
Madiha Habib
National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology, National Agricultural Research Centre, Park Rd., Islamabad 45500, Pakistan
Faisal Saeed
Agriculture, Health and Environment Department, Natural Resources Institute, Faculty of Engineering & Science, University of Greenwich, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
Sidra Charagh
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, China National Rice Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Christine H. Foyer
School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK
Kadambot H.M. Siddique
The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth 6009, Australia; Corresponding authors.
Rajeev K. Varshney
WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia; Corresponding authors.
Trehalose (Tre) is a non-reducing disaccharide found in many species, including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, yeast, and even plants, where it acts as an osmoprotectant, energy source, or protein/membrane protector. Despite relatively small amounts in plants, Tre concentrations increase following exposure to abiotic stressors. Trehalose-6-phosphate, a precursor of Tre, has regulatory functions in sugar metabolism, crop production, and stress tolerance. Among the various abiotic stresses, temperature extremes (heat or cold stress) are anticipated to impact crop production worldwide due to ongoing climate changes. Applying small amounts of Tre can mitigate negative physiological, metabolic, and molecular responses triggered by temperature stress. Trehalose also interacts with other sugars, osmoprotectants, amino acids, and phytohormones to regulate metabolic reprogramming that underpins temperature stress adaptation. Transformed plants expressing Tre-synthesis genes accumulate Tre and show improved stress tolerance. Genome-wide studies of Tre-encoding genes suggest roles in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. This review discusses the functions of Tre in mitigating temperature stress—highlighting genetic engineering approaches to modify Tre metabolism, crosstalk, and interactions with other molecules—and in-silico approaches for identifying novel Tre-encoding genes in diverse plant species. We consider how this knowledge can be used to develop temperature-resilient crops essential for sustainable agriculture.
