Determining the influence of tree age on tea quality-related metabolites in Camellia tachangensis var. remotiserrata by integrating metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses

作者：Zhuorong Shi, Yu Cai, Ying Tian, Yuting Zhang, Junhao Shao, Jianfeng Liu, Qingwei Zhang · 发表于：Frontiers in Plant Science · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3389/fpls.2025.1701011 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Tea Polyphenols and Effects、Tryptophan and brain disorders、Sirtuins and Resveratrol in Medicine

var. remotiserrata. We report tree age to directly affect metabolic divergence in leaves in spring. Compared with 10-y-old trees, the leaves of 80- and 800-y-old trees have higher flavonoid contents; total soluble sugar, polyphenol, and total amino acid contents are largely unaffected by tree age, but levels of specific amino acids (e.g., theanine, glutamate, and isoleucine) decline in older trees. Metabolome analysis reveals 202 of 1041 identified compounds (primarily flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids, tannins, lignans, and coumarins) to exhibit significant age-dependent changes. With increased tree age, common sugar compounds (e.g., glucose, maltose) and certain lipids (e.g., 1-alpha-linolenoyl-glycerol) contents increase in leaves. Levels of relatively abundant phenolic acids (e.g., ferulic acid-4-O-glucoside, p-coumaric acid-4-O-glucoside) and flavonoids (e.g., luteolin-3'-O-glucoside, apigenin-4'-O-glucoside) decrease, while catechin content increases significantly, particularly epigallocatechin gallate derivatives. These metabolic changes align with flavor profiles of tea harvested from different tree ages: infusions from older trees are significantly less bitter and astringent and present apparent sweet and umami characteristics. Transcriptome analysis reveals overall gene expression profiles to vary with tree age, especially for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Focusing on the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway, the expression of the gene...