Abstract
Light-sensitive albino tea plant grows yellow shoots under strong sunlight conditions. The yellow albino shoots contain high level of amino acids and medium level of polyphenols, which is beneficial for sensory quality of green tea. The effects of sunlight intensity on the transcriptions of genes involved in biosynthesis of chlorophylls and carotenoids, as well as the ultrastructure of chloroplasts, were investigated using a light-sensitive albino tea cultivar ‘Huangjinya’, and compared with a normal tea cultivar ‘Fudingdabai’. The results showed that strong sunlight induced hypoplasia of chloroplasts by suppressing the development of grana stacking and thylakoids, and down-regulated the expression levels of the 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase gene family, involved in biosynthesis of precursors of carotenoids and chlorophylls, as well as the magnesium chelatase subunit D gene, involved in biosynthesis of chlorophylls, leading to the reduction of chlorophylls. Strong sunlight up-regulated the expression of genes involved in carotenoid pathway, resulting in the accumulation of carotenoids, including violaxanthin and lutein. The shortage of chlorophylls and the accumulation of carotenoids were considered to cause the yellow color of the albino shoots of the light-sensitive albino tea cultivar ‘Huangjinya’.
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