Carotenoids in HuangyeRougui Tea Plant

Huangye Rougui is a mutant Rougui of Camellia sinensis that bears yellow leaves.The characteristic color comes from the carotenoids, not due to thedisappearance of chlorophyll upon senescence. To analyze the difference in themetabolites in Rougui and Huangye Rougui with a samegenetic background, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)was used. Eleven carotenoid compounds were detected in the teas that includedα-carotene, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin, γ-carotene, neoxanthin, β-carotene,lutein, β-cryptoxanthin, β-apocarotene aldehyde, phytoene, and α-cryptoxanthin.However, the two varieties significantly differed on the contents of specificcarotenes. For both varieties, the most dominant carotene was lutein, which followed by β-carotene and neoxanthin. On the otherhand, zeaxanthin was significantly higher, while lutein, β-carotene,neoxanthin, and violaxanthin significantly lower in Huangye Rougui than in Rougui.The difference in carotenoidcomposition between the two varieties appeared to determine the color variationof the shoots.