Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding 2025, Vol.15, No.3, 89-97 http://genbreedpublisher.com/index.php/tgmb 93 signals in the environment and pass on this information to promote flower bud formation (Guo et al., 2022). The flowering of tea plants also requires a large amount of energy and carbohydrates. These substances, in combination with hormone signals, jointly construct a very complex regulatory network (Tang et al., 2023). 6.2 Crosstalk between hormone signaling and gene expression Different plant hormones play different roles in the flowering process of tea plants. Some hormone levels increase, such as zeaxanthin (cZ), brassinolide (BL), salicylic acid (SA), ACC and jasmonic acid (JA), which can accelerate flowering. Hormones such as ABA, tZR, dh-Z and IP can delay flowering (Fan et al., 2024). These hormones can also interact with some key genes, helping to control the process of flower bud differentiation and flowering. The study also found that hormones in old leaves can guide flower bud development by regulating energy metabolism and rhythm genes (Guo et al., 2022). When the bud begins to grow, zeaxin plays a core role. It can activate many growth-promoting factors and help the bud grow rapidly (Tang et al., 2023). 6.3 Epigenetic mechanisms and chromatin remodeling In addition to genes and hormones, epigenetics and chromatin conditions can also affect the flowering of tea plants. Small RNA molecules like miR156 and miR172 can participate in epigenetic regulation by controlling the genes they target (Wang, 2014; Fan et al., 2024). In addition, some transcription factors, such as bHLH, MYB and NAC families, also regulate the expression of genes related to secondary metabolism and flowering, change the structure of chromatin, and thereby affect the activity level of genes (Tai et al., 2018). These mechanisms work together to ensure that tea plants can enter the flowering stage at the appropriate time (Li et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2025). 7 Case Study: Functional Characterization of CsaFT1 in Tea Flowering Regulation 7.1 Identification and cloning of CsaFT1 CsaFT1 is a FLOWERING gene in tea plants. It belongs to the FT (FLOWERING LOCUS T) family and is an important member that regulates the flowering time of plants. Researchers identified this gene by analyzing the genome and transcriptome of the tea plant and obtained its complete cDNA sequence using molecular cloning technology. In multiple studies, FT genes are considered to play a key role in the development of tea plant flowers and are expressed at different developmental stages, indicating that they are involved in flower bud initiation and the formation of floral organs (Figure 2) (Liu et al., 2020a; Xu et al., 2022). Figure 2 Putative gene regulatory network of flowering in tea plants (Adopted from Liu et al., 2020a) Image caption: Arrows indicate positive control, perpendicular lines indicate negative control, orange frames indicate physiological processes, other frames indicate proteins, white letters without frames indicate mRNA and black letters without frames indicate genes (Adopted from Liu et al., 2020a)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==