Management of plant central metabolism by SnRK1 protein kinases

SUCROSE NON-FERMENTING1 (SNF1)-RELATED KINASE 1 (SnRK1) is an evolutionarily conserved protein kinase with key roles in plant stress responses. SnRK1 is activated when energy levels decline during stress, reconfiguring metabolism and gene expression to favour catabolism over anabolism, and ultimately to restore energy balance and homeostasis. The capacity to efficiently redistribute resources is crucial to cope with adverse environmental conditions and, accordingly, genetic manipulations that increase SnRK1 activity are generally associated with enhanced tolerance to stress. In addition to its well-established function in stress responses, an increasing number of studies implicate SnRK1 in the homeostatic control of metabolism during the regular day–night cycle and in different organs and developmental stages. Here, we review how the genetic manipulation of SnRK1 alters central metabolism in several plant species and tissue types. We complement this with studies that provide mechanistic insight into how SnRK1 modulates metabolism, identifying changes in transcripts of metabolic components, altered enzyme activities, or direct regulation of enzymes or transcription factors by SnRK1 via phosphorylation. We identify patterns of response that centre on the maintenance of sucrose levels, in an analogous manner to the role described for its mammalian orthologue in the control of blood glucose homeostasis. Finally, we highlight several knowledge gaps and technical limitations that will have to be addressed in future research aiming to fully understand how SnRK1 modulates metabolism at the cellular and whole-plant levels.