Domestication Origin and Breeding History of the Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) in China and India Based on Nuclear Microsatellites and cpDNA Sequence Data - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.3389/fpls.2017.02270. eCollection 2017.

Muditha K Meegahakumbura 1 2 3 4, Moses C Wambulwa 1 2 3 5, Kishore K Thapa 6, Yong-Shuai Sun 7, Michael Möller 8, Jian-Chu Xu 9, Jun-Bo Yang 2, Jie Liu 1, Ben-Ying Liu 10, De-Zhu Li 1 2 3, Lian-Ming Gao 1

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Domestication Origin and Breeding History of the Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis) in China and India Based on Nuclear Microsatellites and cpDNA Sequence Data

Muditha K Meegahakumbura et al. Front Plant Sci. 2018.

Abstract

Although China and India are the two largest tea-producing countries, the domestication origin and breeding history of the tea plant in these two countries remain unclear. Our previous study suggested that the tea plant includes three distinct lineages (China type tea, Chinese Assam type tea and Indian Assam type tea), which were independently domesticated in China and India, respectively. To determine the origin and historical timeline of tea domestication in these two countries we used a combination of 23 nSSRs (402 samples) and three cpDNA regions (101 samples) to genotype domesticated tea plants and its wild relative. Based on a combination of demographic modeling, NewHybrids and Neighbour joining tree analyses, three independent domestication centers were found. In addition, two origins of Chinese Assam type tea were detected: Southern and Western Yunnan of China. Results from demographic modeling suggested that China type tea and Assam type tea first diverged 22,000 year ago during the last glacial maximum and subsequently split into the Chinese Assam type tea and Indian Assam type tea lineages 2770 year ago, corresponding well with the early record of tea usage in Yunnan, China. Furthermore, we found that the three tea types underwent different breeding histories where hybridization appears to have been the most important approach for tea cultivar breeding and improvements: a high proportion of the hybrid lineages were found to be F2 and BCs. Collectively, our results underscore the necessity for the conservation of Chinese Assam type tea germplasm and landraces as a valuable resource for future tea breeding.

Keywords: Camellia sinensis; breeding history; cpDNA sequence; domestication center; nSSR.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Three demographic history models tested for tea domestication.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Results of the STRUCTURE analysis at K = 3 and 4 based on nSSR data for a total of 402 tea samples collected from China and India assigned according to their groups and respective mosaic groups.

Figure 3

Figure 3

NewHybrid analysis based on nSSR data of 402 tea samples from China and India. (A) Chinese Assam type tea as P1 and China type tea in China as P2; (B) Chinese Assam type tea as P1 and Camellia taliensis as P2; (C) Indian Assam type tea as P1 and China type tea from China and India as P2.

Figure 4

Figure 4

NETWORK tree for 31 cpDNA haplotypes of 101 tea samples from China and India. Circle sizes in the Network are proportional to the haplotype frequencies. Black dots on the lines shows mutation points. Clade A Haplotypes of Chinese Assam type tea from Southern Yunnan and Camellia taliensis; Clade B Haplotypes predominantly of China type tea; Clade C Haplotypes of Indian Assam type tea and Chinese Assam type tea from Western Yunnan.

Figure 5

Figure 5

The NJ tree of 101 tea samples from China and India based on cpDNA sequence data. Clade A, haplotypes predominantly of China type tea; Clade B, haplotypes of Chinese Assam type tea mostly from Southern Yunnan and Camellia taliensis; Clade C, haplotypes of Indian Assam type tea and Chinese Assam type tea from Western Yunnan. 43 Samples which were shown to be hybrids based on nSSR data with STRUCTURE and a NewHybrids analysis are shown with squares with the colors referring to the morphological characteristics.

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