Molecular cloning of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase cDNA and classification of varieties and cultivars of tea plants (Camellia sinensis) using the tea PAL cDNA probe.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) cDNA was cloned using labelled rice PAL cDNA as a probe. The PAL genes of the tea plant were investigated by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis using tea PAL cDNA. PAL genetic variation in tea plants was much larger than predicted due to the presence of various hybridized fragments in the Assam hybrids, which are hybrids between C. sinensis var 'assamica' and var 'sinensis'. On the other hand, hybridized band patterns of Japanese green tea cultivars belonging to var 'sinensis' could be divided into five groups. Furthermore, a short-length PAL probe, about 280 bp including the 3' untranslated sequence, detected 3 DNA fragments of different lengths, which were named A, B and D. An experiment tracing the PAL gene heredity showed that A, B and D fragments were inherited according to the Mendelian monogenic ratio. Therefore, PAL genes identifiable by A, B and D fragments are multiple alleles, and the PAL gene is present as a single gene in the tea haploid genome. It was also clear that five groups of Japanese green tea cultivars were characterized by the composition of these PAL fragments. From RFLP analysis using tea PAL cDNA, we succeeded in distinguishing Assam hybrids and Japanese green tea cultivars with high and low catechin content, respectively, and in grouping Japanese green tea at the cultivar level.