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Article|09 Dec 2025|OPEN
Exploring the developmental mechanisms of tea plant trichomes using genomics and single-cell transcriptome sequencing
Xuming Deng1 ,† , Yajun Tang2 ,† , Qing Zhang3 ,† , Weilong Kong4 , Xiying Lin5 , Xianyu Chen5 , Zhidan Chen6 , Xingtan Zhang4 , and Weijiang Sun,1 ,
1College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350002, China
2Fruit Research Institute, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou, Fujian 350013, China
3State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Agriculture, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
4National Key Laboratory for Tropical Crop Breeding, Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518120, China
5Tea Technology Promotion Station, Fuding City Tea Industry Development Center, Ningde, Fujian 355200, China
6Anxi College of Tea Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Quanzhou, Fujian 362400, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: zhangxingtan@caas.cn,000q020007@fafu.edu.cn
Xuming Deng,Yajun Tang and Qing Zhang contributed equally to the study.

Horticulture Research 13,
Article number: uhaf352 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhaf352
Views: 34

Received: 17 Jun 2025
Revised: 26 Dec 2025
Published online: 09 Dec 2025

Abstract

Camellia sinensis Fuding Dahaocha, a triploid white tea cultivar widely cultivated in south China, exhibits distinctive traits including dense leaf trichomes, early sprouting, and robust stress resistance. Here, we present the first high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of this triploid variety, resolved through integrated PacBio long-read sequencing and Hi-C scaffolding. The genome assembly spans 45 chromosomes with a scaffold N50 value of 182 Mbp. A total of 149 455 gene models were annotated and mapped to chromosomes, among which 30 568 were identified as protein-coding genes. The genome features high repetitiveness (65.9% transposable elements), heterozygosity, and three distinct haplotype sets with substantial allelic variation (17 601 triallelic genes), with the retained haplotype-specific genes potentially contributing to regulatory complexity through dosage effects. Genome completeness assessment revealed a BUSCO completeness of 99.0% (2303 out of 2326 conserved core genes identified), which included 40 single-copy (1.7%) and 2263 duplicated (97.3%) genes. Evolutionary analyses indicated conserved relationships among the three homologous chromosome sets. We also performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on a sufficiently large pooled sample of leaf tissues to study trichome development, overcoming technical limitations posed by secondary metabolites and low protoplast isolation efficiency. This yielded a single-cell atlas for woody plants, identifying 35 trichome-specific marker genes and modeling developmental trajectories during epidermal differentiation. Functional validation identified CsCUT1 as a suppressor of trichome branching and CsMYB4 as a negative regulator of trichome initiation. Cell cycle analysis showed G2-phase dominance in developing trichomes. These findings provide a genetic framework for trichome development and offer resources for tea breeding.