Development of “Tea Rice” by engineering catechin biosynthesis in rice endosperm

作者：Jinjin Zhu, Shen Zhou, Wenzhao Wang, Yuanyuan Lv, Chenkun Yang, Qiming Wang, Ran Zhang, Shuangqian Shen, Jie Luo · 发表于：Plant Biotechnology Journal · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/pbi.70060 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Tea Polyphenols and Effects、Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities、Microbial Metabolism and Applications

Catechins, a subclass of flavan-3-ols, constitute the primary constituents of tea plant (Camellia sinensis), representing approximately 15–30% of its dry weight (Wei et al., 2018). These essential flavonoid phytonutrients are renowned for their pivotal role in bestowing the unique health benefits associated with tea plant consumption. Moreover, catechins exhibit significant bioactivity, contributing to human health through their anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer and cardioprotective properties (Isemura, 2019). In most cultivated rice varieties, low expression or non-functionality of flavonoid pathway genes results in scarce flavonoid content in the endosperm. Even in pigmented rice, flavonoids are mainly in the pericarp. The lack of catechins in polished rice, given their robust bioactivity, positions them as an optimal candidate for biofortification efforts. Therefore, there is an impetus to develop a “Tea Rice” with a high content of catechins in the endosperm by harnessing tissue-specific metabolic engineering of enzymes involved in catechin biosynthetic pathways. The catechin biosynthesis pathway is well understood at the molecular genetics and enzymatic levels (Figure 1b) (Zhao et al., 2022). The tea plant is a rich source of catechins; to generate “Tea Rice”, five genes from the tea plant, including [CsCHI (KY615684.1), CsCHS (NM_001426674.1), CsF3H (XM_028251604.1), CsDFR (KY615690.1) and CsLAR (KY615699.1)], along with one gene from the Crocosmia x crocosmi...