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Genetic structure and diversity of India hybrid tea

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Abstract

The most important evolutionary event in the success of commercial tea cultivation outside China in ~30 countries came about by the origin of India hybrid tea in India, derived from the extensive spontaneous hybridization that took place between the Assam type tea growing in the forest regions of Assam, North-East India and China type tea introduced from China in ~1875 to many regions of North-East India. The release of an enormous pool of vigorous and highly variable plants of India hybrid tea in North-East India was a significant step forward for the origin and evolution of tea as a highly successful crop plant. The 1,644 accessions and clones of India hybrid tea, representatives of known 15 morphotypes, were screened by 412 AFLP markers amplified by 7 AFLP primer pair combinations. All the 412 genetic loci were polymorphic across the 1,644 accessions and clones. The analysis was done with distance (PCoA and NJ) methods, and the STRUCTURE (Bayesian) model. Both PCoA and NJ analysis clustered 1,644 tea accessions and clones into six major groups with one group in each, constituted mostly by China hybrid, Assam China hybrid and Assam hybrid morphotypes, of distinct genetic identity. No group was exclusive for any particular morphotype. The accessions and clones belonging to morphotypes, Assam type, Assam hybrid, China hybrid and China Cambod were distributed in all the groups. It is the Assam type/Assam hybrid morphotypes which exhibit much broader genetic variability than in China type/China hybrid/Cambod type/Cambod hybrid morphotypes. The STRUCTURE analysis inferred 16 populations (K = 16), for which the greatest values of probability were obtained. Nine of the 16 clusters were constituted by the tea accessions and clones of ‘pure’ ancestry. The remaining clusters were of ‘mixed’ ancestry. This analysis provides evidence that the accessions and clones of the same morphotype are not always of same genetic ancestry structure. The tea accessions and clones obtained from outside North-East India shared the same groups (distance method) and clusters (STRUCTURE model) which were constituted by North-East India accessions. The present study also demonstrates very narrow genetic diversity in the commercial tea clones vis-à-vis the profound genetic diversity existing in the tea accessions. These clones were distributed in hardly two of the six groups in NJ tree. The identified 105 core accessions and clones, capturing 98% diversity, have their origin from almost all groups/subgroups of NJ tree.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by a grant from Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The authors thank Dr. M. Tewari, of University of Delhi, Delhi and Dr. A. Mishra, Ms. P. Bharali and Ms. S. Gupta, of Tocklai Experimental Station, Jorhat for their support and suggestions.

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Author notes

  1. S. N. Raina

    Present address: Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Sector 125, Noida, 201303, Uttar Pradesh, India

  2. R. K. Kalia

    Present address: Centre for Plant Biotechnology, CCSHAU Campus, Hisar, 125004, Haryana, India

  3. D. Sehgal

    Present address: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA, UK

  4. B. M. Prasanna

    Present address: CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre), Apdo. Postal 6-641, 06600, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

  5. B. Bera

    Present address: Tea Board of India, Kolkata, 700001, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cytogenetics, Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Delhi, 110007, India

    S. N. Raina, R. K. Kalia, V. Pandey, J. Banik, V. Razdan, D. Sehgal, T. H. Dar, A. Kumar, S. Bali, V. Bhat, S. Sharma & S. Goel

  2. Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, 176061, Himachal Pradesh, India

    P. S. Ahuja, R. K. Sharma, P. Bhardwaj, R. Negi, V. Sharma, S. S. Singh & R. K. Sud

  3. Tocklai Experimental Station, Tea Research Association, Jorhat, 785008, Assam, India

    S. C. Das & M. Hazarika

  4. Division of Genetics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012, India

    B. M. Prasanna

  5. The Energy and Resources Institute, Darbari Seth Block, IHC Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi, 110003, India

    M. S. Negi, P. Vijayan & S. B. Tripathi

  6. United Planters’ Association of Southern India, Valparai, 642127, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. R. Kumar, D. Vijayan & S. Ramkumar

  7. Bose Institute, Kolkata, 700001, India

    B. R. Chowdhury & S. S. Mandi

  8. School of Biosciences & Technology, VIT University, Vellore, 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

    A. K. A. Mandal

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Correspondence to S. N. Raina or P. S. Ahuja.

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10722_2011_9782_MOESM4_ESM.doc

Fig. S1: Principal coordinate plot (Axis 2 and 3) for the 1644 accessions and clones. Description of data: Distribution of 1644 accessions and clones in different co-ordinates after PCo analysis. (DOC 1820 kb)

10722_2011_9782_MOESM5_ESM.doc

Fig. S2: Graphical representation of Del K showing dip after K=16. Description of data: Estimation of Delta K value showing optimum number of clusters at 16. (DOC 192 kb)

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Raina, S.N., Ahuja, P.S., Sharma, R.K. et al. Genetic structure and diversity of India hybrid tea. Genet Resour Crop Evol 59, 1527–1541 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-011-9782-6

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