2024/07/11 by Wei Tong, Yanli Wang, Fangdong Li +7 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals #Genetic diversity and population structure #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
paper · doi:10.1111/jipb.13737
openalex publication_date 2024/07/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Domestication has shaped the population structure and agronomic traits of tea plants, yet the complexity of tea population structure and genetic variation that determines these traits remains unclear. We here investigated the resequencing data of 363 diverse tea accessions collected extensively from almost all tea distributions and found that the population structure of tea plants was divided into eight subgroups, which were basically consistent with their geographical distributions. The genetic diversity of tea plants in China decreased from southwest to east as latitude increased. Results also indicated that Camellia sinensis var. assamica (CSA) illustrated divergent selection signatures with Camellia sinensis var. sinensis (CSS). The domesticated genes of CSA were mainly involved in leaf development, flavonoid and alkaloid biosynthesis, while the domesticated genes in CSS mainly participated in amino acid metabolism, aroma compounds biosynthesis, and cold stress. Comparative population genomics further identified ~730 Mb novel sequences, generating 6,058 full-length protein-encoding genes, significantly expanding the gene pool of tea plants. We also discovered 217,376 large-scale structural variations and 56,583 presence and absence variations (PAVs) across diverse tea accessions, some of which were associated with tea quality and stress resistance. Functional experiments demonstrated that two PAV genes (CSS0049975 and CSS0006599) were likely to drive trait diversification in cold tolerance between CSA and CSS tea plants. The overall findings not only revealed the genetic diversity and domestication of tea plants, but also underscored the vital role of structural variations in the diversification of tea plant traits.