Targeting a particular gene may improve tea plants’ flavor and cold tolerance
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Research in New Phytologist reveals a gene that regulates tea plants’ flavor and cold tolerance, providing insights on how to expand the potential for better-tasting tea to be grown in a wider variety of locations.
The study’s investigators identified a light-responsive gene, CsBBX19, that regulates the ratio of key compounds (catechins and theanine) in the leaves of tea plants to control tea quality, and that activates a pathway that confers cold tolerance. Targeting CsBBX19 therefore represents a potential strategy to simultaneously improve stress resilience and flavor quality in tea plants.
“We hope these findings can help us to better understand the formation of tea quality and cold tolerance. More importantly, the study identifies a valuable target for high-quality and high-resistance tea plant breeding,” said corresponding author Enhua Xia, Ph.D., of Anhui Agricultural University, in China.
Publication details
B-BOX DOMAIN PROTEIN 19 shapes tea quality by modulating ratio of catechins and theanine and confers cold tolerance in tea plants, New Phytologist (2026). DOI: 10.1111/nph.71626
Citation:
Targeting a particular gene may improve tea plants’ flavor and cold tolerance (2026, October 21)
retrieved 21 October 2026
from https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gene-tea-flavor-cold-tolerance.html
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