Transcriptional analysis reveals key insights into seasonal induced anthocyanin degradation and leaf color transition in purple tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze)

Purple-tea, an anthocyanin rich cultivar has recently gained popularity due to its health benefits and captivating leaf appearance. However, the sustainability of purple pigmentation and anthocyanin content during production period is hampered by seasonal variation. To understand seasonal dependent anthocyanin pigmentation in purple tea, global transcriptional and anthocyanin profiling was carried out in tea shoots with two leaves and a bud harvested during in early (reddish purple: S1_RP), main (dark gray purple: S2_GP) and backend flush (moderately olive green: S3_G) seasons. Of the three seasons, maximum accumulation of total anthocyanin content was recorded in S2_GP, while least amount was recorded during S3_G. Reference based transcriptome assembly of 412 million quality reads resulted into 71,349 non-redundant transcripts with 6081 significant differentially expressed genes. Interestingly, key DEGs involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis [PAL, 4CL, F3H, DFR and UGT/UFGT], vacuolar trafficking [ABC, MATE and GST] transcriptional regulation [MYB, NAC, bHLH, WRKY and HMG] and Abscisic acid signaling pathway [PYL and PP2C] were significantly upregulated in S2_GP. Conversely, DEGs associated with anthocyanin degradation [Prx and lac], repressor TFs and key components of auxin and ethylene signaling pathways [ARF, AUX/IAA/SAUR, ETR, ERF, EBF1/2] exhibited significant upregulation in S3_G, correlating positively with reduced anthocyanin content and purple coloration. The present study for the first-time elucidated genome-wide transcriptional insights and hypothesized the involvement of anthocyanin biosynthesis activators/repressor and anthocyanin degrading genes via peroxidases and laccases during seasonal induced leaf color transition in purple tea. Futuristically, key candidate gene(s) identified here can be used for genetic engineering and molecular breeding of seasonal independent anthocyanin-rich tea cultivars.