Overexpressing MdFRK2-mediated Sugar Metabolism Accelerates Cellulose Accumulation in Apple and Poplar

Abstract Background: Cellulose is not only a common component in vascular plants, but also has great economic benefits for paper, wood, and industrial products. And its biosynthesis is highly regulated by carbohydrate metabolism and allocation in plant. MdFRK2, which encodes a key fructokinase (FRK) in apple, showed especially high affinity to fructose and regulated carbohydrate metabolism. Results: It was observed that overexpression of MdFRK2 in apple decreased sucrose (Suc) and fructose (Fru) with augmented FRK activity in stems, and caused the alterations of many phenotypic traits that include increased cellulose content and thickened primary phloem. To further investigate the involved mechanisms, we generated FRK2-OE poplar lines OE#1, OE#4 and OE#9 and discovered (1) a direct metabolic pathway for the biosynthesis of cellulose is that increased cleavage of Suc into UDP-glucose (UDPG) for cellulose synthesis via the increased sucrose synthase (SUSY) activity and transcript levels of PtrSUSY1, (2) another finding of this study is that overexpression of MdFRK2 resulted in the huge increased cellulose level by shifting the fructose 6-phosphate or glucose 6-phsophate towards UDPG formation, (3) that with increased UDPG in the sink tissue, and therefore more cellulose or hemicellulose can be used to thicker primary phloem. These results demonstrated that MdFRK2 overexpression would significantly changes the photosynthetic carbon flux from sucrose and hexose to UDPG for increased cellulose synthesis.Conclusions: The present data indicated that MdFRK2 overexpression in apple and poplar changes the photosynthetic carbon flux from sucrose and hexose to UDPG for stem cellulose synthesis. A new strategy is proposed to increase cellulose production by regulating sugar metabolism as a whole.