Catechin and Catechin Fractions as Biochemical Markers to Study the Diversity of Indian Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) Germplasm

Abstract

The heterogeneous Indian tea germplasm includes 'China', 'Assam', 'Cambod', and their hybrids which were evaluated using biochemical markers viz., total catechin and their fractions, for varietal identification and characterization. Principal component analysis (PCA) of biochemical characters showed that the total catechin and trihydroxylated catechin has higher eigenvalues. The first two principal components (PCs) could differentiate more than 90% of the clones studied. This grouping based on first two principal component matrices differentiated 'China', and their hybrids with 'Assam' and 'Cambod' variety. Morphologically indistinct large-leaved 'Cambod' variety and 'Assam' varieties could not be differentiated using biochemical markers, since both varietal types taxonomically belong to a single species. Clones of 'China' type showed low total catechin content and catechin ratio which are distinctly grouped. The 'China-Assam' and 'China-Cambod' hybrids formed intermediate groups between 'China' PC group and 'Cambod'/'Assam' PC groups, providing evidence for genetic control of catechin ratio variation. Tea clones which are differentially positioned in the PC group could be explained based on the genetic contribution by other varietal type as parents. This biochemical characterization will be a useful tool in the development of quality-tea clones with different proportion of total catechin and their fractions.

Catechin contents in tea (Camellia sinensis) as affected by cultivar and environment and their relation to chlorophyll contents

“…Chen and Zhou (2005) reported a large variation of TC content over 596 accessions of tea genetic resources, preserved in the China National Germplasm Tea Repository. Meanwhile, Gulati et al (2009) proposed the biochemical characterisation with different proportion of TC and its components would be a useful tool in the development of quality-tea clones. However, in this study, differences among locations were far larger than variation among cultivars, implying the environmental effect should be taken into consideration when TC and its component contents are utilised as biochemical markers in a tea breeding program (Tables 1 and 2).…”

“…Recently, catechin and its components have been widely utilised in studying the diversity of tea germplasm (Gulati et al, 2009;Magoma, Wachira, Obanda, Imbuga, & Agong, 2000). Catechins are considered to be synthesised through phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthetic pathway.…”

Development of CAPS markers to identify Indian tea (Camellia sinensis) clones with high catechin content

“…Accumulation of catechin has been found to differ the China, Assam, and Cambod cultivars. Catechin content has been reported to be lower in China types than in Assam and Cambod types (Takeda, 1994;Magoma et al, 2000;Gulati et al, 2009). Further, Iwasa (1977 reported that catechin content is higher in young leaves of var.…”

Molecular Markers

“…This fingerprinting will help to trace the origin of teas (Borse et al 2002). Catechin and its components had been widely utilized in studying the diversity of tea germplasm (Magoma et al 2000;Gulati et al 2009); yet, it was found that total catechin of tea leaves increased with the increase in sunlight exposure, suggest-ing that catechin biosynthesis was also dependent on the environment (Mariya et al 2003) and geographical location of a plant (Wei et al 2011).…”

“…The Indian tea germplasm comprising 'China', 'Assam', 'Cambod', and their hybrids, were evaluated using biochemical markers such as total catechins and their fractions for varietal identification and characterization of various made tea samples from northern India (Gulati et al 2009) as well as southern India (Saravanan et al 2005). Morphologically indistinct large-leaved 'Cambod' and 'Assam' varieties could not be differentiated using biochemical markers, since both varietal types taxonomically belong to a single species.…”