Journal of Tea Science Research, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 1-11 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/jtsr 7 and resequencing of diverse germplasm, laying the foundation for deciphering the genetic basis of complex traits and developing trait specific molecular markers (Wang et al., 2020; Chen et al., 2023; Tariq et al., 2024). Molecular marker assisted selection (MAS) and genomic selection (GS), are profoundly changing the breeding methods of tea plants, improving the accuracy of selection and shortening the breeding cycle. Especially genome selection can achieve higher genetic gain and cost-effectiveness, even under limited resource conditions. The integration of MAS and GS enables breeder to objectively select quality, and stress resistance traits at an early stage, thereby accelerating the cultivation of superior varieties (Yamashita et al., 2020; Lubanga et al., 2021; 2023). Figure 3 Transcriptional profiling of genes involved in the phenylpropane and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways in Zikui (ZK) and N61 tea cultivars. Grids with a purple color scale from light to dark represent fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments mapped (FPKM) values of 0–10, 10–20, 20–40, 40–80, 80–160, and 160–320. Grids with a red color scale from light to dark represent FPKM values of 0–10, 10–20, 20–40, 40–80, 80–160, 160–320, 320–640, 640–1280, 1280–2560, and more than 2560. PAL, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase; C4H, cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase; 4CL, 4-coumarate CoA ligase; CHS, chalcone synthase; CHI, chalcone isomerase; F3H, flavanone 3-hydroxylase; F3′H, flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase; DFR, dihydroflavonol 4-reductase; ANS, anthocyanidin synthase; UFGT, UDP glucose-flavonoid 3-O-glcosyl-transferase; LAR, leucocyanidin reductase (Adopted from Cai et al., 2022) Image caption: The figure shows the expression profiles of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes in the leaves of ZK and N61 at 15 and 45 days. The results indicate that key structural genes such as F3’H, ANS, and UFGT were significantly upregulated in ZK at 15 days, with expression levels higher than those at 45 days and in N61 at the same stage. This suggests that Zikui activates the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway during the critical period of purple leaf formation, and the upregulation of structural genes is the main driving force behind anthocyanin accumulation (Adapted from Cai et al., 2022) 6.2 Functional gene mining and synthetic biology Functional genomics techniques, like QTL mapping, GWAS, and pan genomic analysis, have provided strong support for key gene mining of important agronomic and quality traits (Chen et al., 2023; Tariq et al., 2024). With resources, researchers can identify and validate key candidate genes, achieving targeted improvement of traits.
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