Journal of Tea Science

Review on the Changes of Biochemical Components and the Influencing Factors in Piling Process of Yellow Tea

HUA Jinjie, JIANG Yongwen, YUAN Haibo, YIN Junfeng, ZHONG Weibiao, YU Shuping, XIE Qiantu

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 203-208. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.001

Abstract ( 522 )

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During the piling process, dramatic changes of biochemical components in tea leaves are occurred under heat and humid effects: the content of chlorophyll drops sharply under oxidative degradation reactions, the composition and proportion of catechins are significantly changed under oxidation and isomerization reactions, the contents of amino acids and soluble sugar are also been changed. These changes provide an important material foundation for the unique quality formation of yellow tea: yellow soup, yellow leaves, mellow taste, etc. This paper reviewed the dynamic variation of quality biochemical compositions and microorganism in the piling process, the key influencing factors of piling process, as well as puts the prospects for the future research trends of piling technology.

Analysis of Aroma Quality Characteristic in An-hua Qian-liang Tea

QI Dongqing, ZHOU Yuebin, SHEN Chengwen, CAI Xiang, WANG Xiao, YU Jiangyi

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 209-216. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.002

Abstract ( 452 )

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Simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) technique combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) identification method were applied to analyze the volatile components in nine kinds of An-hua Qian-liang tea, in which, the aroma characteristic of the components were discussed by sensory evaluation method. Results of sensory evaluation indicated that the main features of An-hua Qian-liang tea are fragrance of pine wood and stale flavour. Some An-hua Qian-liang teas possess a slight fragrance of reed leaves and aroma of coarse stems as well as the stale flavour and smoke. A few An-hua Qian-liang tea possesses a little sour taste. Results of GC-MS analysis indicated that alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, heterocyclic oxygen compounds play a major role on An-hua Qian-liang tea aroma. The alcohol content is the largest (21.97%), followed by aldehydes (20.11%), ketones (18.69%), heterocyclic oxygen compounds (18.39%), fatty acids (12.71%), lipids (1.70%) and heterocyclic (1.21%) compounds.

Extracting Characteristics of Flavone and Flavonol Glycosides in Xihulongjing Tea under Different Brewing Conditions and Their Contribution to Tea Taste

LIU Yang, CHEN Gensheng, XU Yongquan, ZHANG Yingna, YIN Junfeng

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 217-224. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.003

Abstract ( 680 )

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The study proposed a standard analyzing method based on high performance liquid chromatography combined with ultraviolet (UV) to quantify extracting characteristics of flavone glycosides in Xihulongjing tea under different brewing conditions, and their contributions to taste was estimated by Dot factor (Dose-over-Threshold). Results indicated that: (1) This method can be used to separate and quantify eleven flavone and flavonol glycosides in tea; (2) In traditional brewing conditions, Myr-gala and Que-rut were the principal flavonol glycosides in Xihulongjing tea. With brewing temperature and time rising, eleven flavone and flavonol glycosides except Kae-rut increased variably with the raising of brewing temperature and the prolonging of brewing time, Que-rut and Que-gala leached fastly, while Myr-rha and Vit-rha leached slowly among 11 flavone and flavonol glycosides; (3)All of the Dot factors of Que-rut、Que-gala and Myr-gala were higher than 10. According to the definition of Dot factor, they may be showed a significant contributor to tea taste.

Flavor Analysis and Flavor Wheel Establishment of Ten Top Famous Tea in Zhejiang Province

ZHANG Yingbin, JIN Shouzhen, WANG Guoqing, YU Liangzi, ZHOU Sujuan, LIU Xin, LU Chengyin

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 225-232. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.004

Abstract ( 803 )

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78 samples of different grades（including top famous tea and special famous tea in Zhejiang province）were collected in this research. Through the sensory evaluation, an obvious flavor changes between different grades were found. While processing the data of chemical compounds in different grade samples with discriminant analysis, a well judgment can be shown, which is essentially in agreement with the sensory evaluation result. The quantity of samples with different aroma and taste types was counted, and then the characteristics of each tea were summarized. Flavor wheels were drawn after the analysis and reconstitution of the flavor types.

Study on Absorption of Theaflavin and EGCG in Caco-2 Cell Model

MENG Qing, TU Youying

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 233-238. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.005

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In order to explore the absorption regularity of TF₁ and EGCG in the organism. This research used the Caco-2 cell monolayer model in vitro to simulate the absorption of TF₁ and EGCG in the small intestine. The influences of concentration and time on the absorption regularity of TF₁ and EGCG in Caco-2 cell monolayer model were investigated. The results illustrated that the absorption of TF₁ and EGCG in Caco-2 model showed that the apparent permeability coefficient raised with the increasing of concentrations of two compound in the range of 10~100βµmol·L^-1. The efflux rates of the TF₁ and EGCG showed the same rules as absorption. However, the increasing range of efflux rate was higher than that of absorption rate. The values of Papp about TF₁ and EGCG in the cell model were lower than 1×10^-6βcm·s^-1, which indicated that both of them belonged to the kind of drugs which were difficult to absorb. However, with comparing the absorption rate, TF₁ was higher than EGCG in this model. Both of efflux transport showed the passive process because the efflux rates of TF₁ and EGCG were larger than 2 and higher than in cell model. Because the efflux regulation of TF₁ was in accordance with EGCG by temporal variation, it suggested that both of them were the substrate of the same efflux protein.

Advances in Molecular Mechanisms of Tea Polyphenols in Preventing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

GAO Yuanyuan, MAO Limin, XU Ping, WANG Yuefei

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 239-247. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.006

Abstract ( 618 )

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As natural functional materials, tea polyphenols have been shown to effectively prevent the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the mechanism of action is still unclear. For further study, this article summarizes the molecular mechanisms implicated in the beneficial metabolic effects of tea polyphenols. In the respect of glycometabolism, tea polyphenols significantly reduce the absorption of simple sugars by inhibiting disaccharidases (α-amylase and α-glucosidase). Then, tea polyphenols can ameliorate insulin resistance and inhibit gluconeogenesis via insulin signaling and AMPK pathway, including regulation of the phosphorylation and expression of protein kinases, and relevant transcription factors. In addition, tea polyphenols stimulate glucose uptake and utilization by increasing insulin secretion. Meanwhile, tea polyphenols showed great effects on improving lipid metabolic disorder by suppressing lipid synthesis and accumulating the activity of related enzyme and the expression of transcription factors as well as stimulating the oxidative metabolism of fat and lipid and suppressing the lipidosis. Moreover, tea polyphenols showed antioxidative and anti-inflammatory capability to ameliorate cell damage and apoptosis induced by oxidation and inflammation.

Effects of Different Fertilizer Application Systems on Nitrogen Nutrition in Tea Garden Soil and Yield-Quality of Tea Plant

ZHU Xujun, WANG Yuhua, ZHANG Yu, XIAO Runlin, LI Xinghui

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 248-254. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.007

Abstract ( 544 )

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Through field test by setting factors of nitrogen level and organic/chemical fertilizer ratio, we studied the effects of different fertilizer application systems on organic matter and nitrogen nutrition in tea garden soil, as well as tea yield & quality were investigated. The results showed that contents of organic matter and total nitrogen were significantly increased under all various fertilizer treatments, and applying 75% organic manure combined with 25% chemical fertilizers with 900βkg·hm^-2 high nitrogen level exhibited the most remarkable increasing effects. Compared with no fertilization treatment, indicators of tea production including the bud-leaf density, 100-bud weight were increased under all various fertilizer treatments. Furthermore, the quality indicators of spring tea were dramatically increased under such fertilizer treatments that organic manure more than 25%, the tea quality improved more while organic manure was more than 50%.

Effect of Tea Plant Pruning Material on Fungi Community Diversity in Tea Plantation Soil

YUAN Saiyan, CHEN Xuan, FANG Wanping, WANG Yuhua, ZHU Xujun, LI Xinghui

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 255-262. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.008

Abstract ( 492 )

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Returning of pruning material to the field is a common agronomic practice performed in tea plantation. By extracting the total DNA of soil in various treatments, the effects of tea pruning material on fungal community structure and diversity in tea garden soils were investigated by using PCR amplification and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), the original soil without any supplement was set as control. Many common bands were detected from each soil samples by DGGE, and those bands that showed highest sequence homology to Pezizomycotina, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycotina and Mucoromycotina. The number and brightness of bands from DGGE presented the community diversity of fungi under different treatments. The results showed the richness and Shannon index were lower than the control, maybe the degradation products and phenolic compounds of pruning material have some inhibitory effect on fungi community diversity.

The Vertical Characteristics of Soil Humus in Different Soil Types of Tea Garden

WANG Feng, CHEN Yuzhen, YOU Zhiming, WU Zhidan, JIANG Fuying, WENG Boqi, ZHANG Wenjin

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 263-270. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.009

Abstract ( 534 )

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Based on the field survey and laboratory analysis, the soil humus composition in five soil types (yellow soil, red earth, moisture sandy soil, alpine meadow soil and purple soil) of tea garden in Wuyishan city were investigated. The results showed that the content of humic acid(HA), fulvic acid(FA) and Humin(HM) decreased with the soil depth. There were significant differences of humus composition among different soil types. The humus composition and carbon level in alpine meadow soil of tea garden were significantly higher than those in other soil types, followed by those in yellow soil and purple soil, the lowest was in red soil. Humin was the main composition of humus(57.06%-79.76%). Except alpine meadow soil, the proportion FA were more than those in HA. The △log K and E4/E6 value of FA was higher than HA. The △log K and E4/E6 value in alpine meadow soil and red soil were the lowest and highest, respectively. The soil humus composition were significantly correlated with soil organic carbon and phenol contents, total N, soil bulk density and soil porosity, but no significant correlated with C/N, pH value and soil moister. Thus, the major type of humus was humin in all five kinds of tea garden soils,alpine meadow soil belonged to the humic acid type soil, and others belonged to fulvic acid enriched soil.

Screening and Culture Medium Optimization of Polyphenol Oxidase Producing-Fungi from Endophytes of Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis)

ZHANG Wanrong, WU Tingyu, YANG Minhe

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 271-280. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.010

Abstract ( 496 )

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Five kinds of phenolic materials, including guaiacol, alpha-naphthol, gallic acid, L-tyrosine and tannic acid, were used as the substrates to screen polyphenol oxidase-producing fungal strains. Four out of 14 endophytic fungal strains of tea plant (Camellia sinensis) were selected by agar plate screening methods. Strain CSN-13 was obtained for its color ring size and color depth, which owned a powerful production capacity of polyphenol oxidase. A preliminary analysis for nutritional components of strain CNS-13 was conducted. The results showed that among 6 kinds of carbon sources, wheat bran was the best for its promoting effects upon polyphenol oxidase production. Ammonium nitrate showed the most significant promotion among 5 kinds of nitrogen sources. Enzyme production was significantly promoted when tea infusion was added into the fermentation medium. With the adoption of orthogonal design, the fermentation medium for enzyme production was preliminarily optimized. The optimized medium contains wheat bran (40βg·L^-1), ammonium nitrate (15βg·L^-1), tea (4βg·L^-1), KH₂PO₄ (2βg·L^-1), MgSO₄·7H₂O (0.5βg·L^-1), CaCl₂ (0.075βg·L^-1), and CuSO₄·5H₂O (0.01βg·L^-1). By using the optimized medium, enzyme activity could reach 241 U·mL^-1·min^-1 under culture conditions with 28℃ temperature for 5 days, which was 8.5 times higher than that of before optimization. Strain CSN-13 and the fermentation medium in present study offered an alternative for the further development of polyphenol oxidase.

Formation Mechanism of TSs and Competitive Formation Between TSs and TFs under Various pH

XU Bin, JIANG Heyuan, ZHANG Jianyong, YANG Liuyan, LIU Qianlu

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 281-289. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.011

Abstract ( 530 )

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To illustrate the formation mechanism of theasinensins (TSs) and the competitive formation between TSs and theaflavins (TFs), catechins((EGCG, EGC, EC and ECG) were oxidized to form TSs monomers or TFs monomers by enzymatic oxidation and the experiments were performed by liquid fermentation under different pH values. The results showed that the TSs monomers were synthesized and accumulated continuously under acidic conditions, while the peaks of TSs monomers appeared in a short time but showed poor stability under neutral or alkaline conditions. Due to the magnitudes of the oxidation reduction potential (ORP) are variable for catechins, the enzymatic oxidative rates of catechins are different under different pH conditions. For the reason that there was a competition between the formation of TSs and TFs: the content of TSs monomers transformed by EGCG and EGC was higher than TFs monomers under the neutral condition or pH=6, however, conversely under the condition pH=5.

Subcellular Localization of CsE1α as well as Cloning and Expression of Its Promoter from the Pollen of Camellia sinensis

DU Yulin, WANG Weidong, WANG Yuhua, LI Xinghui

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 290-298. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.012

Abstract ( 506 )

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In this paper, full-length cDNA is identified for designing the gene-special primers in TAIL-PCR to clone the promoter of CsE1α. By sequencing and bioinformatic analyzing, we observed two CAAT-box, two TATA-box, two GATA-box, one LTR and one G-box located in the 336βbp promoter region. After constructing and transferring the transient expression vectors into the onion epidermal cells, subcellular localization of CsE1α-GFP fusion proteins is verified in mitochondria, while the promoter can activate downstream gene expressing in entire cell. This experiment may provide useful information for the subsequent stable expression in transgenic Arabidopsis and the further investigation on the expression and regulation of CsE1α gene as well as the investigation on the molecular mechanism of cold resistance in pollen of Camellia sinensis.

Research on the Type and Mode of the Development of Tea Culture Resource

SHEN Xuezheng, SU Zhucheng, WANG Xufeng

Journal of Tea Science. 2015, 35(3): 299-306. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2015.03.015

Abstract ( 528 )

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Chinese tea culture converged the local economy and agriculture to form the tea cultural industry. Based on the theory of cultural resource, this thesis divided the tea culture heritage resources into 5 major types. And further more, we subdivided it into 15 basic categories. Meanwhile, in view of the different types of tea cultural heritage resources, we put forward 13 main development mode, which promote the regional economy and advance the tea industry transformation and upgrading. Then, taking Fujian Province, Wuyi area, TAETEA as the case, respectively, we summed up 3 kinds of development mode of tea cultural heritage resource, from a province, a region, a business point of view, namely comparative advantage model, point axis development model and the extended model industry.

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