Mineral and metabolic profiles in tea leaves and flowers during flower development

• Published in: Plant physiology and biochemistry Vol. 106; pp. 316 - 326
• Main Authors: Jia, Sisi, Wang, Yu, Hu, Jianhui, Ding, Zhaotang, Liang, Qing, Zhang, Yinfei, Wang, Hui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Elsevier Masson SAS 01.09.2016
• Subjects: Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze; Camellia sinensis - anatomy & histology; Camellia sinensis - growth & development; Camellia sinensis - metabolism; Correlation analysis; Flower; Flowers - growth & development; Flowers - metabolism; Ionome; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Metabolome; Metabolomics; Mineral nutrient; Minerals - metabolism; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Mineral nutrient; Metabolome; Flower; Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze; Correlation analysis; Ionome
• ISSN: 0981-9428; 1873-2690
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2016.06.013

Tea [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverage crops in the world, and the physiological processes and gene regulations involved in development in tea plants have been well characterized. However, relatively little is known about the metabolic changes combined with mineral distributions that occur during flower development. Here we detected the contents of 11 elements in tea leaves and flowers and found that, some of them, especially phosphorus, sulfur and copper, showed significant changes during tea flowering. We also detected 122 metabolites in tea leaves and flowers and found that, 72 of them showed significant differences between flowers and leaves, of which sugars, organic acids, and flavonoids dominated. The sugars, such as trehalose and galactose, all accumulated in tea flowers, and the organic acids, such as malic acid, citric acid and fumaric acid involved in TCA cycle. The flavonoids, like epicatechin, catechin gallate and epigallocatechin, were more abundant in leaves. Furthermore, we found that the contents of 33 metabolites changed during the development of flowers. Especially, citric acid, phenylalanine and most flavonoids decreased while fructose and galactose increased during flowering stages in flowers. We also analyzed the correlations between the ions and metabolites and found that, some mineral nutrients including phosphorus, sulfur, manganese and zinc had close relations to organic acids, flavonoids, sugars and several amino acids during flowering. We mapped the metabolic pathway according to the KEGG database. This work will serve as the foundation for a systems biology approach to the understanding of mineral metabolism. •Conjunct analysis of mineral nutrient and metabolites was used in this study.•Difference analyses were operated between two tissues and three flowering stages.•Tea flowering was affected by the interaction of ions and metabolites in flowers and leaves.•Phosphorus takes effect on the flavonoid, amino acid and sugar metabolism in tea flowering.