Pengliang Li1,2,3, Weidong Dai1, Meiling Lu4, Dongchao Xie1, Junfeng Tan1, Chen Yang1, Yin Zhu1, Haipeng Lv1, Qunhua Peng1, Yue Zhang1, Li Guo1, Dejiang Ni2, Zhi Lin1. 1. Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China. 2. College of Horticulture and Forestry Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. 3. Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China. 4. Agilent Technologies (China) Limited, Chaoyang District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Green tea and black tea are manufactured using appropriate tea cultivars in China. However, the metabolite differences relating to the manufacturing suitability of tea cultivars are unclear. In the present study, we performed a non-targeted metabolomic analysis on 13 Chinese tea cultivars using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry to investigate comprehensively the metabolite differences between cultivars suitable for manufacturing green tea (GT cultivars) and cultivars suitable for manufacturing both green tea and black tea (G&BT cultivars). RESULTS: Multivariate statistical analysis and cluster analysis divided the 13 cultivars into two groups, namely GT cultivars and G&BT cultivars, which correlated with their manufacturing suitability. The GT cultivars contained higher levels of flavonoid glycosides, whereas the G&BT cultivars contained higher levels of catechins, dimeric catechins, phenolic acids and alkaloids. CONCLUSION: Metabolic pathway analysis revealed that the flavonoid pathway inclined toward the synthesis of flavonoid glycosides in GT cultivars, whereas it inclined toward the synthesis of catechins and phenolic acids in G&BT cultivars. The results of the present study will be helpful for discriminating the manufacturing suitability of tea cultivars and investigating their breeding.
BACKGROUND: Green tea and black tea are manufactured using appropriate tea cultivars in China. However, the metabolite differences relating to the manufacturing suitability of tea cultivars are unclear. In the present study, we performed a non-targeted metabolomic analysis on 13 Chinese tea cultivars using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry to investigate comprehensively the metabolite differences between cultivars suitable for manufacturing green tea (GT cultivars) and cultivars suitable for manufacturing both green tea and black tea (G&BT cultivars). RESULTS: Multivariate statistical analysis and cluster analysis divided the 13 cultivars into two groups, namely GT cultivars and G&BT cultivars, which correlated with their manufacturing suitability. The GT cultivars contained higher levels of flavonoid glycosides, whereas the G&BT cultivars contained higher levels of catechins, dimeric catechins, phenolic acids and alkaloids. CONCLUSION: Metabolic pathway analysis revealed that the flavonoid pathway inclined toward the synthesis of flavonoid glycosides in GT cultivars, whereas it inclined toward the synthesis of catechins and phenolic acids in G&BT cultivars. The results of the present study will be helpful for discriminating the manufacturing suitability of tea cultivars and investigating their breeding.