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Molecular regulation of immunity in tea plants

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Abstract

Tea, which is mainly produced using the young leaves and buds of tea plants (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze), is one of the most common non-alcoholic beverages consumed in the world. The standard of tea mostly depends on the variety and quality of tea plants, which generally grow in subtropical areas, where the warm and humid conditions are also conducive to the occurrence of diseases. In fighting against pathogens, plants rely on their sophisticated innate immune systems which has been extensively studied in model plants. Many components involved in pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) triggered immunity (PTI) and effector triggered immunity (ETI) have been found. Nevertheless, the molecular regulating network against pathogens (e.g., Pseudopestalotiopsis sp., Colletotrichum sp. and Exobasidium vexans) causing widespread disease (such as grey blight disease, anthracnose, and blister blight) in tea plants is still unclear. With the recent release of the genome data of tea plants, numerous genes involved in tea plant immunity have been identified, and the molecular mechanisms behind tea plant immunity is being studied. Therefore, the recent achievements in identifying and cloning functional genes/gene families, in finding crucial components of tea immunity signaling pathways, and in understanding the role of secondary metabolites have been summarized and the opportunities and challenges in the future studies of tea immunity are highlighted in this review.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely acknowledge Dr. Qing Xiong (Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China) for critical comments and linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. We also thank Dr. Xia Yan (Chongqing Three Gorges University, Wanzhou, China) for her contribution in improving the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Project (cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0322), and the Science and Technology Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (KJQN202101246).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Engineering Laboratory of Green Planting and Deep Processing of Famous-Region Drug in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing, 404120, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Rui, Jia-yi Su, Tao Li & Jia-miao Sun

  2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Industrial Green Technology, College of Ecology and Resources Engineering, Wuyi University, Wuyishan, 354300, China

    Guang-heng Wu

Authors
  1. Lu Rui
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  2. Jia-yi Su
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  3. Tao Li
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  4. Jia-miao Sun
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  5. Guang-heng Wu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LR, JS, TL, JS and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. The manuscript was revised by LR. LR and GW approved the final version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lu Rui.

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Rui, L., Su, Jy., Li, T. et al. Molecular regulation of immunity in tea plants. Mol Biol Rep 50, 2883–2892 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-08177-4

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