Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Jan 22;13(2):323.
doi: 10.3390/plants13020323.

Recent Advances in the Specialized Metabolites Mediating Resistance to Insect Pests and Pathogens in Tea Plants (Camellia sinensis)

Jin Zhang  1 , Yongchen Yu  1 , Xiaona Qian  1 , Xin Zhang  1 , Xiwang Li  1 , Xiaoling Sun  1
Affiliations
Review

Recent Advances in the Specialized Metabolites Mediating Resistance to Insect Pests and Pathogens in Tea Plants (Camellia sinensis)

Jin Zhang et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Tea is the second most popular nonalcoholic beverage consumed in the world, made from the buds and young leaves of the tea plants (Camellia sinensis). Tea trees, perennial evergreen plants, contain abundant specialized metabolites and suffer from severe herbivore and pathogen attacks in nature. Thus, there has been considerable attention focusing on investigating the precise function of specialized metabolites in plant resistance against pests and diseases. In this review, firstly, the responses of specialized metabolites (including phytohormones, volatile compounds, flavonoids, caffeine, and L-theanine) to different attacks by pests and pathogens were compared. Secondly, research progress on the defensive functions and action modes of specialized metabolites, along with the intrinsic molecular mechanisms in tea plants, was summarized. Finally, the critical questions about specialized metabolites were proposed for better future research on phytohormone-dependent biosynthesis, the characteristics of defense responses to different stresses, and molecular mechanisms. This review provides an update on the biological functions of specialized metabolites of tea plants in defense against two pests and two pathogens.

Keywords: Camellia sinensis; defense response; insect pest attack; pathogen infection; specialized metabolites; tea plant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Symptoms of Ectropis grisescens infestation (A), Empoasca onukii infestation (B), Exobasidium vexans infection (C), and Colletotrichum camelliae infection (D) in the tea plantations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic drawing of the mechanism underlying specialized metabolite-mediated resistance to pests and pathogens in the tea plant (Camellia sinensis).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Wallis C.M., Galarneau E.R.A. Phenolic compound induction in plant-microbe and plant-insect interactions: A meta-analysis. Front. Plant Sci. 2020;11:580753. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.580753. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jiang Y., Zhang C.X., Chen R., He S.Y. Challenging battles of plants with phloem-feeding insects and prokaryotic pathogens. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2019;116:23390–23397. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1915396116. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gao H., Ma K., Ji G., Pan L., Wang Z., Cui M., Zhou Q. Protein glycosylation changes during systemic acquired resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2022;212:381–392. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.05.126. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yu Y., Gui Y., Li Z., Jiang C., Guo J., Niu D. Induced systemic resistance for improving plant immunity by beneficial microbes. Plants. 2022;11:386. doi: 10.3390/plants11030386. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mishra A.K., Morang P., Deka M., Nishanth Kumar S., Dileep Kumar B.S. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacterial strain-mediated induced systemic resistance in Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) through defense-related enzymes against brown root rot and charcoal stump rot. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 2014;174:506–521. doi: 10.1007/s12010-014-1090-0. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources

-