Background: Starch is synthesized during the day for temporary storage in leaves and then degraded during the subsequent night to support plant growth and development. Impairment of starch degradation leads to stunted growth, even senescence and death. The nuclear pore complex is involved in many cellular processes, but its relationship with starch degradation is unclear until now. We previously identified two Nucleoporin98 (Nup98) genes (Nup98a and Nup98b) redundantly regulated flowering through CONSTANS (CO) independent pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. The nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant also showed severe senescence phenotypes. Results: We found that Nucleoporin 98 (Nup98) participated in the regulation of sugar metabolism in leaves and in turn is involved in senescence regulation in Arabidopsis. We show that Nup98a and Nup98b redundantly function in the different steps of starch degradation and the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant accumulates more starch than wild type plants and has a severe early senescence phenotype compared to wild type plants. The expression of marker genes related to starch degradation was impaired in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant, and indicator genes of carbon starvation and senescence expressed earlier in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant than that in wild type plants, suggesting abnormality of energy metabolism was the cause of senescence of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant. Addition of sucrose to the growth medium can rescue early senescence phenotype of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 mutant. Conclusions: Our results provide a line of evidence on a novel role of the nuclear pore complex in energy metabolism related to growth and development, whereas Nup98 functions in starch degradation conferring growth regulation in Arabidopsis.

Background: Starch is synthesized during daylight for temporary storage in leaves and then degraded during the subsequent night to support plant growth and development. Impairment of starch degradation leads to stunted growth, even senescence and death. The nuclear pore complex is involved in many cellular processes, but its relationship with starch degradation has been unclear until now. We previously identified that two Nucleoporin98 genes (Nup98a and Nup98b) redundantly regulate flowering via the CONSTANS (CO)-independent pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. The double mutant also shows severe senescence phenotypes. Results: We find that Nucleoporin 98 participates in the regulation of sugar metabolism in leaves and is also involved in senescence regulation in Arabidopsis. We show that Nup98a and Nup98b function redundantly at different stages of starch degradation. The nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant accumulates more starch, showing a severe early senescence phenotype compared to wild type plants. The expression of marker genes related to starch degradation is impaired in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant, and marker genes of carbon starvation and senescence express their products earlier and in higher abundance than in wild type plants, suggesting that abnormalities in energy metabolism are the main cause of senescence in the double mutant. Addition of sucrose to the growth medium rescues early senescence phenotypes of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 mutant. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for a novel role of the nuclear pore complex in energy metabolism related to growth and development, in which Nup98 functions in starch degradation to control growth regulation in Arabidopsis.

Background: Starch is synthesized during the day for temporary storage in leaves and then degraded during the subsequent night to support plant growth and development. Impairment of starch degradation leads to stunted growth, even senescence and death. The nuclear pore complex is involved in many cellular processes, but its relationship with starch degradation is unclear until now. We previously identified that two Nucleoporin98 (Nup98) genes (Nup98a and Nup98b) redundantly regulate flowering through CONSTANS (CO) independent pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. The nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant also shows severe senescence phenotypes. Results: We find that Nucleoporin 98 (Nup98) participates in the regulation of sugar metabolism in leaves and in turn involves in senescence regulation in Arabidopsis. We show that Nup98a and Nup98b redundantly function in the different steps of starch degradation and the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant accumulates more starch than wild type plants and has a severe early senescence phenotype compared to wild type plants. The expression of marker genes related to starch degradation is impaired in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant, and marker genes of carbon starvation and senescence express earlier and in higher abundance in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant than in wild type plants, suggesting that abnormality of energy metabolism is the main cause of senescence of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant. Addition of sucrose to the growth medium rescues early senescence phenotypes of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 mutant. Conclusions: Our results provide a line of evidence on a novel role of the nuclear pore complex in energy metabolism related to growth and development, in which Nup98 functions in starch degradation conferring growth regulation in Arabidopsis.

Background: Starch is synthesized during the day for temporary storage in leaves and then degraded during the subsequent night to support plant growth and development. Impairment of starch degradation leads to stunted growth, even senescence and death. The nuclear pore complex is involved in many cellular processes, but its relationship with starch degradation is unclear until now. We previously identified two Nucleoporin98 ( Nup98 ) genes ( Nup98a and Nup98b ) redundantly regulated flowering through CONSTANS ( CO ) independent pathway. in Arabidopsis thaliana. The nup98a nup98b double mutant also showed severe senescence phenotypes. Results: We found that Nucleoporin 98 ( Nup98 ) participated in the regulation of sugar metabolism in leaves and in turn is involved in senescence regulation in Arabidopsis . We show that Nup98a and Nup98b redundantly function in the different steps of starch degradation, the nup98a nup98b double mutant accumulates more starch than wild type and has a severe early senescence phenotype compared to wild type. The expression of marker genes related to starch degradation was impaired in the nup98a nup98b double mutant, and indicator genes of carbon starvation and senescence expressed earlier in the nup98a nup98b double mutant than that in wild type plants, suggesting abnormality of energy metabolism was the cause of senescence of the nup98a nup98b double mutant. Addition of sucrose to the growth medium can rescue early senescence phenotype of the nup98a nup98b mutant. Conclusions: Our results provided a line of evidence on a novel role of the nuclear pore complex in energy metabolism related to growth and development, whereas Nup98 functioned in starch degradation conferring growth regulation in Arabidopsis .

Background: Starch is synthesized during the day for temporary storage in leaves and then degraded during the subsequent night to support plant growth and development. Impairment of starch degradation leads to stunted growth, even senescence and death. The nuclear pore complex is involved in many cellular processes, but its relationship with starch degradation is unclear until now. We previously identified that two Nucleoporin98 (Nup98) genes (Nup98a and Nup98b) redundantly regulate flowering through CONSTANS (CO) independent pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana. The nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant also shows severe senescence phenotypes. Results: We find that Nucleoporin 98 (Nup98) participates in the regulation of sugar metabolism in leaves and in turn involves in senescence regulation in Arabidopsis. We show that Nup98a and Nup98b redundantly function in the different steps of starch degradation and the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant accumulates more starch than wild type plants and has a severe early senescence phenotype compared to wild type plants. The expression of marker genes related to starch degradation is impaired in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant, and marker genes of carbon starvation and senescence express earlier and in higher abundance in the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant than in wild type plants, suggesting that abnormality of energy metabolism is the main cause of senescence of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 double mutant. Addition of sucrose to the growth medium rescues early senescence phenotypes of the nup98a-1 nup98b-1 mutant. Conclusions: Our results provide a line of evidence on a novel role of the nuclear pore complex in energy metabolism related to growth and development, in which Nup98 functions in starch degradation conferring growth regulation in Arabidopsis.