Classification of tea (Camellia sinensis) landraces and cultivars in Kyoto, Japan and other regions, based on simple sequence repeat markers and restriction site-associated DNA sequencing analysis

Abstract

The tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) of Japan is now thought to have originated in China. Actual cultivation of tea plants presumably started in Kyoto, and then spread to other regions of Japan. Tea gardens used to be composed of heterogenic, seed-derived populations—landraces—selected for climatic preferences and cultivation methods. Cultivars were bred from landraces in the modern era. A number of landraces remain in Kyoto Prefecture. However, little is known about their genetic characteristics compared with other landraces. We investigated the relationships of tea landraces and cultivars from Kyoto Prefecture and other regions. A neighbor-joining phylogram was constructed from 113 lines including 68 landraces, 44 cultivars, and one wild relative, based on simple sequence repeat markers. The lines could be classified into four groups (I–IV). In group I, most of the Kyoto landraces were close to other Japanese landraces, supporting the idea of the spread of tea plants from Kyoto to other regions in the country. The remaining lines were included into groups III and IV, apart from group II, which contained Shizuoka lines. Similar results were observed by restriction site-associated DNA sequencing analysis using 44 cultivars. Our data provide valuable information for the classification of tea lines, especially for the relationships of Kyoto lines among Japanese tea varieties.