Tonoplast vesicles isolated from stalk parenchyma tissue of sugarcane plants transport sucrose via a uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPGlc)-dependent group translocator. No sucrose transport via an ATP-dependent system could be detected. The products of UDPGlc uptake in the vesicles were sucrose and sucrose phosphate which, upon hydrolysis with alkaline phosphatase and invertase, showed that both hexose moieties are derived from UDPGlc.