Carbon-use efficiency in green sinks is increased when a blend of apoplastic fructose and glucose is available for uptake

Understanding how green sink strength is regulated in planta poses a difficult problem because non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) levels can have integrated, simultaneous feedback effects on photosynthesis, sugar uptake, and respiration that depend on specific NSC moieties. Photosynthetic gametophytes of the fern Ceratopteris richardii provide a simple land plant model to assess how different NSCs imported from the apoplast of intact plants affect green sink strength. Sink strength was quantified as the amount of exogenous sugar that plants grown in low light depleted from their liquid media, and the relative contributions of carbon assimilation by photosynthesis and sugar uptake was estimated from stable isotope analysis of plant dry mass. Gametophytes absorbed fructose and glucose with equal affinity when cultured on either hexose alone, or in the presence of an equimolar blend of both sugars. Plants also depleted sucrose from the surrounding media, although a portion of this disaccharide that was hydrolysed into fructose and glucose by putative cell wall invertase activity remained in the media. The δ13C in plant dry masses harvested from sugar treatments were all close to –18‰, indicating that 25–39% of total plant carbon was from C3 photosynthesis (δ13C=–29‰) and 61–75% was from uptake of exogenous sugars (δ13C=–11‰). Carbon-use efficiency (i.e. carbon accumulated/carbon depleted) was significantly improved when plants had a blend of exogenous sugars available compared with plants grown in a single hexose alone. Plants avoided complete down-regulation of photosynthesis even though a large excess of exogenous carbon fluxed through their cells.