Eukaryotes rely on efficient distribution of energy and carbon skeletons between organs in the form of sugars. Glucose in animals and sucrose in plants serve as dominant distribution forms. Cellular sugar uptake and release require vesicular and/or plasma membrane transport proteins. Humans and plants use related proteins from three superfamilies for sugar translocation: the major facilitator superfamily (MFS), the sodium solute symporter Family (SSF; only animal kingdom), and SWEETs1-5. SWEETs carry mono- and disaccharides6 across vacuolar or plasma membranes. Plant SWEETs play key roles in sugar translocation between compartments, cells, and organs, notably in nectar secretion7, phloem loading for long distance translocation8, pollen nutrition9, and seed filling10. Plant SWEETs cause pathogen susceptibility by sugar leakage from infected cells3,11,12. The vacuolar AtSWEET2 sequesters sugars in root vacuoles; loss-of-function increases susceptibility to Pythium infection13. Here we show that its orthologue, the vacuolar glucose transporter OsSWEET2b from rice, consists of an asymmetrical pair of triple-helix-bundles (THBs), connected by an inversion linker helix (TM4) to create the translocation pathway. Structural and biochemical analyses show OsSWEET2b in an apparent inward (cytosolic) open state forming homomeric trimers. TM4 tightly interacts with the first THB within a protomer and mediates key contacts among protomers. Structure-guided mutagenesis of the close paralogue SWEET1 from Arabidopsis identified key residues in substrate translocation and protomer crosstalk. Insights into the structure-function relationship of SWEETs is valuable for understanding the transport mechanism of eukaryotic SWEETs and may be useful for engineering sugar flux.

SemiSWEETs and SWEETs are mono- and disaccharide transporters present from Archaea to higher plants and humans1-3. SWEETs play crucial roles in cellular sugar efflux processes, i.e. phloem loading4, pollen nutrition5 and nectar secretion6. Their bacterial homologs, SemiSWEETs, are among the smallest known transporters1,3. Here we show SemiSWEET, consisting of a triple-helix-bundle (THB), forms a symmetric parallel dimer to create the translocation pathway. Two SemiSWEET isoforms were crystallized in apparent open and occluded states, indicating that SemiSWEETs/SWEETs are transporters that undergo rocking-type movements during the transport cycle. The topology of THB is similar to the basic building block in MFS transporters (GLUTs, SUTs), indicating that they may have evolved from an ancestral THB into a parallel configuration to produce 6/6+1 transmembrane-helix pores for SemiSWEETs/SWEETs, and an antiparallel configuration of 2×2 THBs to generate 12 transmembrane-helix pores for MFS transporters. Given the similarity of SemiSWEETs/SWEETs to PQ-loop amino acid transporters and mitochondrial MPC organic acid transporters, the structures characterized here may also be relevant for other MtN3 clan transporters7-9.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disease characterized by chromosomal instability and cancer susceptibility. The Fanconi anemia complementation group protein M (FANCM) forms an evolutionarily conserved DNA-processing complex with MHF1/MHF2 (histone-fold-containing proteins), which is essential for DNA repair in response to genotoxic stress. Here we present the crystal structures of the MHF1-MHF2 complex alone and bound to a fragment of FANCM (FANCM661-800, designated FANCM-F). The structures show that MHF1 and MHF2 form a compact tetramer to which FANCM-F binds through a “dual-V” shaped structure. FANCM-F and (MHF1-MHF2)2 cooperate to constitute a new DNA-binding site that is coupled to the canonical L1L2 region. Perturbation of the MHF-FANCM-F structural plasticity changes the localization of FANCM in vivo. The MHF-FANCM interaction and its subcellular localization are altered by a disease-associated mutant of FANCM. These findings reveal the molecular basis of MHF-FANCM recognition and provide mechanistic insights into the pathway leading to FA.