Abstract
BackgroundTea plants originated in southwestern China. Guizhou Plateau is an original center of tea plants, and is rich in germplasm resources. However, the genetic diversity, population structure and distribution characteristics of cultivated-type tea plants in the region are unknown. In this study, we explored the genetic diversity and geographical distribution of cultivated-type tea accessions in Guizhou Plateau.ResultsWe used 112,072 high-quality genotyping-by-sequencing to analyze the genetic diversity, principal components, phylogeny, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium, and develop a core collection of 253 cultivated-type tea plant accessions from Guizhou Plateau. The results showed Genetic diversity of the cultivated-type tea accessions of the Pearl River Basin was significantly higher than that of the cultivated-type tea accessions of the Yangtze River Basin. Three inferred pure groups (CG-1, CG-2 and CG-3) and one inferred admixture group (CG-4), were identified by a population structure analysis, and verified by principal component and phylogenetic analyses. The highest genetic distance and differentiation coefficients were determined for CG-2 vs CG-3. The lower genetic distance and differentiation coefficients were determined for CG-4 vs CG-2 and CG-4 vs CG-3, respectively. We developed a core set and a primary set. The primary and core sets contained 77.0 and 33.6% of all individuals in the initial set, respectively. The primary set may serve as the primary population in genome-wide association studies, while the core collection may serve as the core population in multiple treatment setting studies.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrated the genetic diversity and geographical distribution characteristics of cultivated-type tea plants in Guizhou Plateau. Significant differences in genetic diversity and evolutionary direction were detected between the ancient landraces of the Pearl River Basin and the those of the Yangtze River Basin. Major rivers and ancient hubs were largely responsible for the genetic exchange between the Pearl River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin ancient landraces as well as the formation of the ancient hubs evolutionary group. Genetic diversity, population structure and core collection elucidated by this study will facilitate further genetic studies, germplasm protection, and breeding of tea plants.
Highlights
IntroductionGuizhou Plateau is an original center of tea plants, and is rich in germplasm resources
Base on GBS method, we investigated the genetic diversity, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) data of the 253 cultivated-type tea accessions
Subsequent analyses revealed that the ancient hubs and basins played important roles in the distribution characteristics and genetic diversity of the cultivated-type tea plants in Guizhou Plateau
Summary
Guizhou Plateau is an original center of tea plants, and is rich in germplasm resources. Tea extracts are rich in secondary metabolites [2], including polyphenol, theanine, caffeine, polysaccharides and volatile oils. These substances are antioxidant, stimulant, diuretic, hypoglycemic and immunomodulatory [2,3,4,5,6]. Tea plants originated in southwestern China, and are cultivated in over 60 and spread to over 160 countries. This crop has a significant impact on the agricultural economy [1, 7]. Germplasms are the invaluable fundamental resources for genetic crop improvement, determine the success of breeding programs, and have attracted widespread research attention [9]
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