Yufen Wang , Xiaocheng Wang

Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Journal of Tea Science Research, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 6   doi: 10.5376/jtsr.2024.14.0031
Received: 18 Oct., 2024    Accepted: 27 Nov., 2024    Published: 16 Dec., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wang Y.F., and Wang X.C., 2024, Key genetic pathways regulating flavonoid biosynthesis in tea plants, Journal of Tea Science Research, 14(6): 335-343 (doi: 10.5376/jtsr.2024.14.0031)

Flavonoids constitute a very extensive group of secondary metabolites in Camellia sinensis that are of importance in determining the quality and health impacts of tea for the consumers. Flavonoids are responsible for the coloring of the leaves, bitterness, and antioxidant activity, which determine the tea's pharmacological effects like anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anticancer activities. The biosynthesis of flavonoid in tea is an extremely interactive system of structural genes, transcription factors, and regulatory pathways traced back to the phenylpropanoid metabolism. The recent research development on omics technologies has enhanced the understanding of the key enzymes, gene expression pattern, and molecular regulating mechanisms involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. Other significant fields of this network are transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, the functions of which are played by non-coding RNAs. This study presents a brief overview of flavonoids in tea varieties, their biosynthetic processes, and genetic control of their accumulation, along with the use of multi-omics tools, potential strategies to enhance content of flavonoid through molecular breeding and biotechnology. These results will profit both plant secondary metabolism scientific knowledge and tea cultivar breeding with high-quality, health-promoting traits.

Flavonoids; Camellia sinensis; Biosynthetic pathways; Transcriptional regulation; Molecular breeding