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Article|01 Mar 2020|OPEN
Identification and distribution of a single nucleotide polymorphism responsible for the catechin content in tea plants
Chen-Kai Jiang1,2 , Jian-Qiang Ma1 , Yu-Fei Liu1,3 and Jie-Dan Chen1 , De-Jiang Ni2 , , Liang Chen,1 ,
1Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 9 South Meiling Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310008, China
2College of Horticulture and Forestry Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, 1 Shizishan Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
3Tea Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Menghai, Yunnan 666201, China
*Corresponding author. E-mail: nidj@mail.hzau.edu.cn,liangchen@tricaas.com

Horticulture Research 7,
Article number: 24 (2020)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41438-020-0247-y
Views: 1292

Received: 10 Oct 2019
Revised: 13 Dec 2019
Accepted: 04 Jan 2020
Published online: 01 Mar 2020

Abstract

Catechins are the predominant products in tea plants and have essential functions for both plants and humans. Several genes encoding the enzymes regulating catechin biosynthesis have been identified, and the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) resulting in nonsynonymous mutations within these genes can be used to establish a functional link to catechin content. Therefore, the transcriptomes of two parents and four filial offspring were sequenced using next-generation sequencing technology and aligned to the reference genome to enable SNP mining. Subsequently, 176 tea plant accessions were genotyped based on candidate SNPs using kompetitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP). The catechin contents of these samples were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was subsequently performed to determine the relationship between genotypes and catechin content. As a result of these efforts, a SNP within the chalcone synthase (CHS) gene was shown to be functionally associated with catechin content. Furthermore, the geographical and interspecific distribution of this SNP was investigated. Collectively, these results will contribute to the early evaluation of tea plants and serve as a rapid tool for accelerating targeted efforts in tea breeding.