The albino mechanism of a new theanine-rich tea cultivar 'Fuhuang 2'.

Xinying Lin; Shuxian Shao; Pengjie Wang; Ruxing Yang; Yucheng Zheng; Xiaomin Chen; Lei Zhang; Naixing YE

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The albino mechanism of a new theanine-rich tea cultivar 'Fuhuang 2'.

Author: Xinying LIN ¹ ; Shuxian SHAO ¹ ; Pengjie WANG ¹ ; Ruxing YANG ² ; Yucheng ZHENG ¹ ; Xiaomin CHEN ¹ ; Lei ZHANG ² ; Naixing YE ¹
Author Information

1. Key Laboratory of Tea Science at Universities in Fujian, College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, Fujian, China.
2. Tea Research Institute, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou 350013, Fujian, China.
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Camellia sinensis; Fuhuang 2; albino; metabolomics; omics technology; transcriptomics
MeSH: Camellia sinensis/genetics*; Chlorophyll A/metabolism*; Plant Proteins/genetics*; Plant Leaves/chemistry*; Chlorophyll/metabolism*; Transcriptome; Flavonoids/metabolism*; Amino Acids/genetics*; Tea; Mixed Function Oxygenases/metabolism*; Nitrogen/metabolism*
From: Chinese Journal of Biotechnology 2022;38(10):3956-3972
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: To explore the mechanism of tea albino variation and high theanine formation, 'Fuyun 6' and a new theanine-rich tea cultivar 'Fuhuang 2' were as materials in this study, pigment content, metabolome and transcriptome of the two cultivars were analyzed by ultramicroelectron microscopy, widely targeted metabolomics, targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics. The results showed that five catechins, theobromine, caffeine, and 20 free amino acids, including theanine, glutamine, arginine, etc., were identified by targeted metabolomics. The amino acid content of 'Fuhuang 2' was significantly higher than that of 'Fuyun 6', and the theanine content was as high as 57.37 mg/g in 'Fuhuang 2'. The ultrastructure of leaves showed that the chloroplast cell structure of 'Fuhuang 2' was fuzzy, most of the grana lamellae were arranged in disorder, with large gaps, and the thylakoids were filiform. The determination of pigments showed that compared with 'Fuyun 6', the contents of chlorophyll A and B, carotenoids, flavonoids and other pigments of 'Fuhuang 2' decreased significantly, some important pigment-related-genes, such as chlorophyllase (CLH), 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED), flavonoid 3β-hydroxylase (F3H) and flavonoid 3', 5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H) were significantly changed. Compared with 'Fuyun 6', 'Fuhuang 2' identified 138 significantly changed metabolites (SCMs) and 658 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). KEGG enrichment analysis showed that SCMs and DEGs were significantly enriched in amino acid biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism and TCA cycle. In general, the albino phenotype of 'Fuhuang 2' may be caused by a deficiency in photosynthetic proteins, chlorophyll metabolism genes and chlorophyll content. The accumulation of high theanine in 'Fuhuang 2' may be due to the low nitrogen consumption in yellowed leaves and the lack of carbon skeleton, amino and nitrogen resources are stored more effectively, resulting in the up regulation of metabolites and related gene expression in the amino acid synthesis pathway, theanine has become a significant accumulation of nitrogen-containing compounds in yellowed leaves.