Article
Plant Sciences
Ziping Chen, Shijia Lin, Juan Li, Tingting Chen, Quan Gu, Tianyuan Yang, Zhaoliang Zhang
Summary: Salt stress increased the accumulation of various amino acids and theanine in tea plants, suggesting the induction of theanine biosynthesis. Applying theanine enhanced the salt stress tolerance and antioxidant activity in new shoots. The study indicated that theanine-induced salt stress tolerance is mediated by a CAT-dependent redox homeostasis pathway.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Wenhui Ma, Xin Kang, Ping Liu, Kexin She, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xiaorong Lin, Bin Li, Zhongzheng Chen
Summary: In this study, a transcription factor CsNAC7 involved in caffeine synthesis was isolated and found to regulate the caffeine synthase gene yhNMT1 and promote caffeine accumulation in tea plants.
HORTICULTURE RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Miao-hua Han, Ni Yang, Qi-wen Wan, Rui-min Teng, Ao-qi Duan, Ya-hui Wang, Jing Zhuang
Summary: Melatonin treatment triggered lignification and increased lignin content in tea leaves, but the effect attenuated over time. Transcriptome sequencing revealed up-regulation of key genes involved in lignin biosynthesis pathway under melatonin treatment. Transcription factor genes like MYB may play important roles in lignin metabolism in response to melatonin.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2021)
Article
Horticulture
Yingzi Wang, Qin Yu, Yinhua Li, Juan Li, Jinhua Chen, Zhonghua Liu, Jian'an Huang, Mohammad S. Al-Harbi, Esmat F. Ali, Mamdouh A. Eissa
Summary: The addition of NO can reduce the relative conductivity of tea leaves, inhibit the elevated malondialdehyde content, promote the accumulation of proline, soluble protein and sugar, increase the superoxide dismutase, catalase activities, thereby alleviating the damage of cold stress on tea leaves. The study provides significant insights into how tea plants sense and defend against chilling stress, contributing to improving production levels and economic benefits, as well as offering theoretical foundations for controlling chilling stress in tea plants.
Article
Agronomy
Xiaoqin Tan, Jiacheng Huang, Lijin Lin, Qian Tang
Summary: This study explored the feasibility of using melatonin to alleviate Cd toxicity and reduce Cd accumulation in tea seedlings. The results showed that melatonin promoted tea seedling growth, increased photosynthetic pigment and soluble protein content. Moreover, melatonin enhanced the antioxidant capacity of plants, reduced oxidative damage, and improved soil enzyme activities.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Debora Goncalves Bortolini, Charles Windson Isidoro Haminiuk, Alessandra Cristina Pedro, Isabela de Andrade Arruda Fernandes, Giselle Maria Maciel
Summary: Camellia sinensis is the source of various teas consumed globally, which are classified based on the oxidation of their bioactive compounds. These compounds, such as methyl-xanthines, amino acids, and flavan-3-ols, contribute to the taste and health properties of teas, with recognized antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory benefits. New approaches have been developed to preserve these bioactive compounds given their susceptibility to oxidation during processing and digestion.
Article
Plant Sciences
Weilong Kong, Mengwei Jiang, Yibin Wang, Shuai Chen, Shengcheng Zhang, Wenlong Lei, Kun Chai, Pengjie Wang, Renyi Liu, Xingtan Zhang
Summary: This study constructed a pan-transcriptome of tea plant leaves to investigate global gene expression differences and regulatory genes for specialized metabolites, revealing clear differentiation between CSA and CSS at the population level and identifying many candidate genes and a regulatory network for specialized metabolites in tea plants.
HORTICULTURE RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Tingting Chen, Jingzhen Ma, Huiping Li, Shijia Lin, Chunxia Dong, Yunxia Xie, Xiaomei Yan, Shupei Zhang, Tianyuan Yang, Xiaochun Wan, Zhaoliang Zhang
Summary: Theanine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid abundant in tea plants, gives tea infusion its unique taste and anti-stress effects. The content of theanine in tea is closely correlated with its quality. However, the regulation of theanine decrease in late spring is still unknown. Through genetic screening, a yeast mutant, gdh2, was found to be hypersensitive to theanine and accumulated more of it, indicating a potential role of CsGDH2.1 in theanine accumulation in tea plants. CsGDH2.1 was found to be expressed in the mitochondria and highly expressed in young tissues of tea plants. CsGDH2.1 was also observed to regulate theanine accumulation in new shoots in late spring through glutamate catabolism.
HORTICULTURE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Xuejin Chen, Pengjie Wang, Mengya Gu, Xinying Lin, Binghao Hou, Yucheng Zheng, Yun Sun, Shan Jin, Naixing Ye
Summary: This study identified 122 CsR2R3-MYB genes in tea plants and analyzed their structure and function. The results showed that these genes have diverse expression patterns and may play roles in regulating multiple biological processes in tea plants.
Review
Food Science & Technology
Yinyin Liao, Xiumin Fu, Lanting Zeng, Ziyin Yang
Summary: The formation pathways and distributions of specialized metabolites in tea are important for improving tea quality. Stable isotope-labeled precursor tracing is a strategy to study the formation of tea metabolites at the individual plant level. Imaging mass spectrometry can be used to investigate the in situ localization of metabolites within tea tissue. Nonaqueous fractionation is a feasible method for characterizing the distributions of metabolites in subcellular organs.
CRITICAL REVIEWS IN FOOD SCIENCE AND NUTRITION
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Qiufang Zhu, Lijia Liu, Xiaofeng Lu, Xinxin Du, Ping Xiang, Bosi Cheng, Meng Tan, Jiaxin Huang, Lijiao Wu, Weilong Kong, Yutao Shi, Liangyu Wu, Jinke Lin
Summary: This study found that endogenous hormones like IAA, GA1, and GA3 were significantly correlated with the content of EGCG, while JA, JA-Ile, and MeJA were strongly correlated with the content of theanine. Additionally, IAA, GA1, and GA4 were significantly correlated with the caffeine content. This research revealed the intricate relationships between the biosynthesis of the main taste components in tea plants and endogenous hormones, providing new insights for improving tea quality.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jinhe Wang, Wenzhen Chen, Hanyue Wang, Yuanda Li, Biao Wang, Lixia Zhang, Xiaochun Wan, Min Li
Summary: The study characterized a zinc finger protein CsDOF and a glutamine synthetase-encoding gene CsGS2 in tea plants, showing their crucial roles in glutamine biosynthesis and their regulation by shade. Suppressing CsDOF or CsGS2 expression led to decreased glutamine content in tea leaves. Overexpression of CsDOF or CsGS2 in Arabidopsis thaliana increased glutamine levels, with CsDOF directly binding to the promoter of CsGS2 to promote its activity.
Article
Plant Sciences
Haixiang Ruan, Xingxing Shi, Liping Gao, Arif Rashid, Yan Li, Ting Lei, Xinlong Dai, Tao Xia, Yunsheng Wang
Summary: Anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins are important flavonoids that have various industrial and pharmaceutical applications. In this study, four CsDFR genes were isolated from Camellia sinensis and their overexpression was analyzed. The results showed that CsDFR genes are closely related to the accumulation of catechins and PAs. Enzyme activity analysis revealed two CsDFR proteins have DFR activity, while the other two do not. Overexpression of CsDFRa and CsDFRc restored the phenotype of purple petiole and seed coat color in AtDFR mutants. Site-directed mutagenesis further identified two amino acid residues that play a key role in controlling DFR reductase activity. Our findings provide comprehensive characterization of CsDFRs and their important role in metabolic engineering.
HORTICULTURE RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yazhen Zhang, Kang Wei, Lingling Guo, Yuping Lei, Hao Cheng, Changsong Chen, Liyuan Wang
Summary: This study identified eight members of purine permeases (PUPs) in tea plants and found their significant roles in caffeine metabolism. Further experiments showed that three of these PUPs played a crucial role in caffeine transport and were located in various parts of cells. Functional assays in yeast and Arabidopsis confirmed their roles. This study provides a theoretical basis for further research on PUP genes and new insights into caffeine metabolism in tea plants.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Shijia Lin, Ziping Chen, Tingting Chen, Weiwei Deng, Xiaochun Wan, Zhaoliang Zhang
Summary: Theanine, the most abundant amino acid in tea leaves, contributes to the taste, relaxation-promoting effects, and health benefits of tea. Recent advances have been made in understanding its metabolism, transport, and regulation in tea plants. This knowledge can be applied to improve the quality of non-tea crops by synthesizing theanine.
CRITICAL REVIEWS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
