Regulation of formation of volatile compounds of tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves by single light wavelength

Abstract

Regulation of plant growth and development by light wavelength has been extensively studied. Less attention has been paid to effect of light wavelength on formation of plant metabolites. The objective of this study was to investigate whether formation of volatiles in preharvest and postharvest tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves can be regulated by light wavelength. In the present study, in contrast to the natural light or dark treatment, blue light (470 nm) and red light (660 nm) significantly increased most endogenous volatiles including volatile fatty acid derivatives (VFADs), volatile phenylpropanoids/benzenoids (VPBs), and volatile terpenes (VTs) in the preharvest tea leaves. Furthermore, blue and red lights significantly up-regulated the expression levels of 9/13-lipoxygenases involved in VFADs formation, phenylalanine ammonialyase involved in VPBs formation, and terpene synthases involved in VTs formation. Single light wavelength had less remarkable influences on formation of volatiles in the postharvest leaves compared with the preharvest leaves. These results suggest that blue and red lights can be promising technology for remodeling the aroma of preharvest tea leaves. Furthermore, our study provided evidence that light wavelength can activate the expression of key genes involved in formation of plant volatiles for the first time.

Breeding new varieties for controlled environments

“…Narrow bandwidth red and blue light have been shown to differentially affect the accumulation of important volatile classes in tea ( Camellia sinensis ) leaves (Fu et al . ). These are just several examples of how specific wavebands can change the abundance of particular volatiles that can influence consumer interest.…”

Green tea flavour determinants and their changes over manufacturing processes

“…Compared with pan-fired teas, steamed tea products had higher levels of the active linalool derivative epoxylinalool, lipid-derived nonanal (with fruity and green note) and cis-jasmone, and indole from a given cultivar. Indole is largely derived from the steamspecific Millard reaction (Jumtee et al, 2011), and is enhanced by stress after leaf plucking (Fu et al, 2015). In addition, linalool and geraniol can be produced from geranyl diphosphate or derived from carotenoid and glycoside precursors (Ho et al, 2015).…”

Light Quality Dependent Changes in Morphology, Antioxidant Capacity, and Volatile Production in Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

“…Light has been shown to affect volatile compounds in petunia flowers, in fruits (such as strawberry, blueberry, and tomato) and in tea leaves (Colquhoun et al, 2013; Fu et al, 2015). …”