Rucheng Baimaocha (Camellia sinensis var. pubilimba Chang) is one of the four tea plants native to Hunan Province, China. Previous studies have shown that Rucheng Baimaocha is different from other three local population resources in Hunan in evolutionary status, and has distinctive characteristics in botanical characteristics, biochemical components and tea making quality. However, there are few studies on the differences of secondary metabolites of Rucheng Baimaocha germplasm resources. Using UPLC-MS/MS analysis technology, taking Anhua population (AHQT, C. sinensis var. sinensis), Chengbu Dongcha [CBDC, C. sinensis var. assamica (Masters) Kitamura], and Jianghua Kucha [JHKC, C. sinensis var. assamica (Masters) Kitamura] of typical local tea resources in Hunan as controls, the significantly different metabolites in Rucheng Baimaocha were screened and clustered by K-means analysis and differential metabolite enrichment pathway analysis. Compared with the control, 189, 180 and 162 significantly different metabolites were screened in Rucheng Baimaotea, the most species were flavonoids (69, 51 and 60 respectively), followed by phenolic acids (31, 40 and 25 respectively), and the least were lignans and coumarins (5, 4 and 4 respectively). Compared with the other three populations, Rucheng Baimaotea increased the content of 15 metabolites. The content of flavonoids and phenolic acids increased the most in Rucheng Baimaocha, and the highest increase was pinocembrin, followed by 1,2,3,6-tetra-o-galloyl-d-glucose. The differential metabolites were analyzed by K-means clustering. The metabolites with the same change trend in the four groups could be divided into nine categories. Among the four populations, there were 32 metabolites with the same change trend and the highest content in Rucheng Baimaotea, mainly flavonoids and tannins. The results of KEGG pathway enrichment of differential metabolites showed that the differential metabolites of Rucheng Baimaotea were mainly enriched in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, flavonoid and flavonol biosynthesis pathway, phenylpropane biosynthesis pathway and so on. In addition to the differential metabolites reported in some tea, some differential metabolites less concerned in tea research were detected, such as pinocembrin, ellagic acid, kaempferol, etc. The substances would provide an important reference for the excavation and breeding of characteristic tea germplasm resources of Rucheng white tea in the later stage.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |