Scientists find missing link in molecular pump system for moving sugar in plants

In Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon’s Wolf Frommer and his team have identified how the sucrose produced in the leaves via photosynthesis is delivered to the transporters that move it into the phloem. In this new research they have identified the missing piece of the molecular pump system – a protein that moves the sucrose to the inside of the plant’s leaf cell walls.  Frommer commented that this research should allow for control of the plant’s pumping system, increasing sugar delivery to seeds for increased crop yield.