Insights into Tissue-specific Specialized Metabolism in Tieguanyin Tea Cultivar by Untargeted Metabolomics
Si Chen,
Jun Lin,
Huihui Liu,
Zhihong Gong,
Xiaxia Wang,
Meihong Li,
Asaph Aharoni,
Zhenbiao Yang,
Xiaomin Yu
Affiliations
Si Chen
College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Jun Lin
FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Huihui Liu
College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Zhihong Gong
FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Xiaxia Wang
FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Meihong Li
College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Asaph Aharoni
Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, P. O. Box 26, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
Zhenbiao Yang
FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Xiaomin Yu
FAFU-UCR Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Tea plants produce extremely diverse and abundant specialized metabolites, the types and levels of which are developmentally and environmentally regulated. However, little is known about how developmental cues affect the synthesis of many of these molecules. In this study, we conducted a comparative profiling of specialized metabolites from six different tissues in a premium oolong tea cultivar, Tieguanyin, which is gaining worldwide popularity due to its uniquely rich flavors and health benefits. UPLC-QTOF MS combined with multivariate analyses tentatively identified 68 metabolites belonging to 11 metabolite classes, which exhibited sharp variations among tissues. Several metabolite classes, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, and hydroxycinnamic acid amides were detected predominantly in certain plant tissues. In particular, tricoumaroyl spermidine and dicoumaroyl putrescine were discovered as unique tea flower metabolites. This study offers novel insights into tissue-specific specialized metabolism in Tieguanyin, which provides a good reference point to explore gene-metabolite relationships in this cultivar.
