Quantitative analysis and screening for key genes related to tea saponin in Camellia Oleifera Abel. Seeds

Tea saponin is an important factor affecting the taste of oil-tea camellia seed oil. The content of tea saponin varied in different plant parts and different oil-tea camellia varieties. The tea saponin content was the highest in oil-tea camellia seed oil of Liping 2, 3.392 mg/mL, and the lowest in that from Changlin 53, 1.016 mg/mL. With increased storage time, the content of tea saponin first increased, peaked at 21 days, and then decreased. Transcriptome sequencing was performed to identify genes related to Camellia Oleifera tea saponin metabolism. A total of 8107 differentially expressed genes were identified, and these genes were classified into 49 Gene Ontology (GO) functional categories and involved 129 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathways. Genes highly correlated with tea saponin metabolism showed significant variation, including c96515.graph_c0 (annotated as acetyl-CoA C-acetyltransferase, AACT), c92925.graph_c0 (annotated as hydroxymethyl glutaryl-CoA synthase, HMGS), c95088.graph_c4, c92367.graph_c0 (annotated as hydroxymethyl glutaryl-CoA reductase, HMGR), c100030.graph_c3 (annotated as 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase, DXS), c86734.graph_c0, c108153.graph_c1 (annotated as β-amyrin synthase), c92020.graph_c0, c105492.graph_c1, c92290.graph_c1 (annotated as cytochrome P450, CYP450), c102136.graph_c0, c95951.graph_c1 (annotated as UDP-Glycosyltransferase, UGT). This research provides theoretical reference for improved processing and utilization of Camellia Oleifera.