RNA-Seq Analysis on A New Tea Strain, Chunlv

Objective Genes associated with the molecular mechanisms and biological characteristics of the new tea strain Chunlv were analyzed.

Method The second generation sequencing technology was applied to determine the full-length transcriptomes of Camellia sinensis Chunlv as well as Fuyun No.6 for comparison.

Result Leaves from the tea bushes were collected for the transcript construction. There were 47.37 M clean reads found in Chunlv, 0.76 M less than that in the control Fuyun No.6. Of the 41159 UniGenes synthesized on the genes of Chunlv, 31706 could be annotated by the GO database involving 3651 groups. Showing 7042 significantly distinct GO genes, the groups included the ones of 23 biological processes, 20 cellular components, and 21 molecular function-based genes. The KEGG analysis annotated 8657 genes into 191 metabolic pathways with 1277 significantly differed from one another. On the DEGs, 66 were involved in the phenylpropyl biosynthesis (ko00940), 3 in glutathione metabolism (ko00480), 40 in oocyte meiosis (ko04114), 45 in RNA degradation (ko03018), and 14 in Cutin, suberine, and wax biosynthesis.

Conclusion The transcriptome sequencing elucidated some genetic information on the Chunlv tea cultivar which would facilitate future studies involving and breeding programs utilizing the molecular markers.