Wenzhong Huang¹ , Kaiwen Liang²

1 Biomass Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
2 Resource Utilization Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 5   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0023
Received: 01 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 15 Sep., 2025    Published: 08 Oct., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Huang W.Z., and Liang K.W., 2025, Formation mechanisms of stem sweetness and texture in fresh-eating sugarcane: sugar metabolism, cell wall modification, and gene expression regulation, International Journal of Horticulture, 15(5): 218-233 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2025.15.0023)

Fresh sugarcane is widely loved by consumers for its high sugar content and excellent texture. The sweetness and texture of the stems are the core indicators of its quality evaluation. This study systematically reviewed the main mechanisms of sweetness and texture formation of fresh sugarcane stems, focusing on the role of key enzymes such as SuSy, SPS and invertase in the sugar metabolism pathway, the regulation of sugar transporters such as SWEET and SUT, and the accumulation dynamics of sucrose, glucose and fructose at different developmental stages. At the same time, the functional mechanisms of cell wall polysaccharide structure, lignin synthesis, and cell wall modification enzymes such as swollenin and pectinase in texture formation were also systematically explained. At the gene expression level, this study explored the spatiotemporal expression patterns of sugar metabolism and cell wall-related genes and the synergistic effects of transcription factors such as NAC, MYB, and bZIP in regulating quality traits, analyzed the effects of hormones (auxin, gibberellin, ethylene) and environmental factors (light, temperature) on related pathways, and finally compared the molecular regulation differences of different varieties such as purple skin and green skin, tender and crisp and crude fiber, in order to provide theoretical support for the molecular breeding of fresh sugarcane and provide direction for the future of multi-omics and precision breeding.

Fresh sugarcane; Sweetness; Texture; Sugar metabolism; Cell wall modification; Gene expression