Identification of Japanese and chinese green tea cultivars by using simple sequence repeat markers to encourage proper labeling.

To identify commercial Japanese monovarietal green tea and imported green tea samples, leading Japanese cultivars were fingerprinted by using six simple sequence repeat markers analyzed by a capillary sequencer. Two well-authenticated imported Chinese monovarietal green tea samples were also fingerprinted by the same markers, one of which, was Fuyun, was a clonally propagated cultivar, and the other, Jiukengzhong, was seed-propagated. At least three markers used in this study identified 16 leading Japanese cultivars and Fuyun. Although Jiukengzhong was a mixed population with diverse genotypes, some individuals had a unique allele in one simple sequence repeat marker that was not detected in the 16 leading Japanese cultivars, an additional 39 cultivars, and Fuyun. This allele was effective as a detection marker for Jiukengzhong. These results support the use of simple sequence repeat markers for the identification of Japanese monovarietal green tea and also of imported green tea made from foreign cultivars.