J Integr Plant Biol. ›› 2024, Vol. 66 ›› Issue (10): 2175-2190.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.13737  cstr: 32098.14.jipb.13737

• Functional Omics and Systems Biology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Genomic variation of 363 diverse tea accessions unveils the genetic diversity, domestication, and structural variations associated with tea adaptation

Wei Tong1†, Yanli Wang1†, Fangdong Li1,2, Fei Zhai1, Jingjing Su1, Didi Wu1, Lianghui Yi1, Qijuan Gao1,3, Qiong Wu4 and Enhua Xia1*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
    2. School of Information and Artificial Intelligence, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
    3. School of Computer and Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 230061, China
    4. Tea Research Institute, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondence: Enhua Xia (xiaenhua@gmail.com)
  • Received:2024-03-06 Accepted:2024-06-14 Online:2024-07-11 Published:2024-10-01
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32172626, 32261133519, 32002086, U20A2045), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF1003103), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, Outstanding Youth Project (2308085J17), the Outstanding Youth Project of Anhui Provincial University (2022AH020060), the Natural Science Research Project of Anhui Provincial University (2022AH050867, 2022AH050893, 2023AH051303) and the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization (SKLTOF20220120, SKLTOF20230127).

Abstract: 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.

Key words: Camellia sinensis, cold tolerance, novel genes, population structure, presence–absence variation, structural variation

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