Understanding the Origin and Evolution of Tea (Camellia sinensis [L.]): Genomic Advances in Tea

Abstract

Tea, which is processed by the tender shoots or leaves of tea plant (Camellia sinensis), is one of the most popular nonalcoholic beverages in the world and has numerous health benefits for humans. Along with new progress in biotechnologies, the refined chromosome-scale reference tea genomes have been achieved, which facilitates great promise for the understanding of fundamental genomic architecture and evolution of the tea plants. Here, we summarize recent achievements in genome sequencing in tea plants and review the new progress in origin and evolution of tea plants by population sequencing analysis. Understanding the genomic characterization of tea plants is import to improve tea quality and accelerate breeding in tea plants.

Full text

Vol:.(1234567890)
Journal of Molecular Evolution (2023) 91:156–168
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-023-10099-z
1 3
REVIEW
Understanding theOrigin andEvolution ofTea (Camellia sinensis [L.]):
Genomic Advances inTea
Zai‑BaoZhang1· TaoXiong1· Jia‑HuiChen2· FanYe2· Jia‑JiaCao2· Yu‑RuiChen2· Zi‑WeiZhao1· TianLuo1
Received: 5 August 2022 / Accepted: 7 February 2023 / Published online: 1 March 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023
Abstract
Tea, which is processed by the tender shoots or leaves of tea plant (Camellia sinensis), is one of the most popular nonalco-
holic beverages in the world and has numerous health benefits for humans. Along with new progress in biotechnologies, the
refined chromosome-scale reference tea genomes have been achieved, which facilitates great promise for the understanding
of fundamental genomic architecture and evolution of the tea plants. Here, we summarize recent achievements in genome
sequencing in tea plants and review the new progress in origin and evolution of tea plants by population sequencing analysis.
Understanding the genomic characterization of tea plants is import to improve tea quality and accelerate breeding in tea
plants.
Keywords Camellia sinensis· Origin· Evolution· Genomics· Expansion
Introduction
Tea Planting andVarieties
Tea plant (Camellia sinensis [L.]) is an evergreen, peren-
nial, and cross-pollinated woody species. It belongs to the
genus Camellia (Theaceae) family and has a life span of
over 100years in nature (Willson and Clifford 1992). The
tender shoots or leaves of tea plant are used to produce tea,
one of the world’s most popular non-alcohol beverage (Drew
2019; Rietveld and Wiseman 2003). Tea contains a wide
variety of secondary metabolites (e.g., catechins, theanine,
caffeine) that determine tea qualities. According to the statis-
tics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (http:// www. fao. org), the planting area of tea and
the annual tea production have reached ~ 3.8 million hectares
and ~ 5 million tonnes in 2019, respectively, and the annual
production rate of green tea has increased ~ 7.5%. Tea was
originated in South-East Asia and has expanded to more
than 100 countries (Heiss and Heiss 2007; Liu etal. 2015).
Tea drinking has a history of nearly 5000years (Wheeler
and Wheeler 2010; Yang and Hong 2013). The first credible
record of tea as a medicinal drink occurred during the Shang
dynasty of China (1766–1050 BC) (Heiss and Heiss 2007;
Weinberg and Bealer 2002). By the Tang dynasty of China
(618–907 AD), tea was regarded as a refreshing beverage
(Willson and Clifford 1992). Since then, tea has expanded
throughout the world associated with the influence of trading
and navigation (Drew 2019; Harbowy etal. 1997).
At present, more than 600 popular genotypes of tea are
being cultivated worldwide (Mondal 2003; Mukhopadhyay
etal. 2016). The most popular tea cultivars were derived
from hybrids within or between two major tea varieties,
CSS: C. sinensis var. sinensis and CSA: C. sinensis var.
assamica. The two tea plant types display distinct charac-
teristics and geographic distribution. CSS is slow-growing
with small leaves and is more tolerant of cold climates, while
CSA is quick-growing with large leaves and is highly sensi-
tive to cold weather (Kaundun and Matsumoto 2003; Yang
and Liang 2014). Therefore, CSS has broader geography
cultivation than does CSA, the latter being mainly cultivated
in India and other hot countries. In agricultural practice,
CSS can often be used to produce green tea, while CSA
Handling editor: Joana Projecto-Garcia.
Zai-Bao Zhang and Tao Xiong These authors contributed equally to
this work.
* Zai-Bao Zhang
zaibaozhang79@163.com
1 College ofLife Science, Xinyang Normal University,
Xinyang464000, China
2 College ofInternational Education, Xinyang Normal
University, Xinyang464000, China
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