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A shared response of thaumatin like protein, chitinase, and late embryogenesis abundant protein3 to environmental stresses in tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze]

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Abstract

Drought poses a significant threat to tree plants including tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] that yields a popular beverage “tea.” Consequence of drought is heat and salt stress, for which data on molecular response in tree species are not available. The present work analyzed drought-responsive subtracted cDNA libraries of tea to identify drought-responsive genes. Temporal and spatial gene expression suggested the involvement of chaperones as one of the major mechanisms to protect the plant against drought-related damages. A common response of thaumatin like protein, chitinase, and late embryogenesis abundant protein3 across four stresses suggests these to be useful targets to generate “drought stress proof” tea.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for funding the project through Supra Institutional project entitled “High value products from agroforestry resources from the Himalayan region and improving productivity and quality of product development, including evaluation facility for nutraceutical/value added products” (SIP-003). Authors thank the Director of CSIR—Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) for provision of necessary facilities for the work. We are also grateful to Dr. R.K. Sud and Banuri tea farm staff for provision of plant materials, Dr. R.D. Singh for assistance with statistical analysis, and Dr. A.K. Singh and Dr. P. Sharma for help with qPCR optimization. RCM is grateful to CSIR and the Academy of Sciences for Developing Countries, Italy for the award of Postgraduate Fellowship and to Prof. Francis N. Wachira, Director, Tea Research Foundation of Kenya for encouragement and support. AP thanks CSIR for awarding Junior/Senior Research Fellowships. Manuscript represents IHBT communication number 2325.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Division, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, 176061, India

    Richard Chalo Muoki, Asosii Paul & Sanjay Kumar

  2. Tea Research Foundation of Kenya, P.O. Box 820, Kericho, 20200, Kenya

    Richard Chalo Muoki

Authors
  1. Richard Chalo Muoki
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  2. Asosii Paul
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  3. Sanjay Kumar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanjay Kumar.

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Close-up view of 2-year-old tea plant of a drought tolerant cultivar UPASI-9 and a drought susceptible cultivar TV2 subjected to drought stress (DS) by withholding irrigation. For recovery (Rec) experiment, drought stressed plants (irrigation withheld) were reirrigated on day 30 after the imposition of drought and the data was collected on day 10 after drought release. Leaves used for the experiment are indicated by arrows. (PPT 217 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Graphical representation of expressed sequence tag (EST) distribution in IP (irrigated plants; panel ‘a’) and drought-stressed (DS) subtracted libraries (panel ‘b’). The functional category “others” include pooled ESTs from categories with <2 % contribution; this group comprises of biogenesis of cellular components, interaction with environment, transcription, transposable elements, classification not yet clear-cut, cell fate, protein activity regulation and organ differentiation. ESTs were functionally classified according to Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS). (PPT 291 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

Comparative analysis of gene expression for leaf tissue on day 30 of DS; and 48 h of osmotic, heat and salt stress. Expression values were relative to the respective controls where drought stressed was compared to the irrigated plants, while osmotic, heat and salt stresses were compared to the cut shoots placed in deionized water. (PPT 153 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Temperature (°C) and relative humidity (%) on days 10, 20 and 30 of drought stress (DS; imposed by withholding irrigation). For recovery (Rec) experiment, plants experiencing DS (irrigation withheld) were reirrigated on day 30 after the imposition of drought and the data were collected on day 10 after drought release. (DOC 36.0 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Gene annotation for irrigated plants subtracted library unigenes of tea. (XLS 69.5 kb)

Supplementary Table 3

Gene annotation for drought-stressed subtracted library unigenes of tea. (XLS 156 kb)

Supplementary Tables 4-7

(DOC 220 kb)

Supplementary Table 8

(XLSX 54.5 kb)

ESM 9

(XLSX 26.5 kb)

ESM 10

(DOC 41.0 kb)

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Muoki, R.C., Paul, A. & Kumar, S. A shared response of thaumatin like protein, chitinase, and late embryogenesis abundant protein3 to environmental stresses in tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze]. Funct Integr Genomics 12, 565–571 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-012-0279-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-012-0279-y

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