title: Metabolomics analysis reveals the compositional differences of shade grown tea (Camellia sinensis L.).
abstract: The different cultivation methods affect tea quality by altering the basic metabolite profiles. In this study, the metabolome changes were investigated in green tea and shade cultured green tea (tencha) by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) coupled with a multivariate data set. The principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) of green tea clearly showed higher levels of galloylquinic acid, epigallocatechin, epicatechin, succinic acid, and fructose, together with lower levels of gallocatechin, strictinin, apigenin glucosyl arabinoside, quercetin p-coumaroylglucosyl-rhamnosylgalactoside, kaempferol p-coumaroylglucosylrhamnosylgalactoside, malic acid, and pyroglutamic acid than tencha. The effects of some seasonal variations were also observed in the primary metabolite concentrations such as amino acids and organic acids. In addition, green tea showed stronger antioxidant activity than tencha in both April and July. The antioxidant activity of green tea samples were significantly correlated with their total phenol and total flavonoid contents. This present study delineates the possibility to get high umami and less astringent green teas in shade culture. It highlights the metabolomic approaches to find out the effect of cultivation methods on chemical composition in plants and the relationship with antioxidant activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology and Bio/Molecular Informatics Center, Kon-Kuk University, Seoul 143-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kang Mo
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Jung Nam
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jiyoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeong Kee
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Lang Gook
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Sang Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young-Shick
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Choong Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D028241:Camellia sinensis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D002392:Catechin / Q000032:analysis; D055432:Metabolomics; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis; D012621:Seasons; D013472:Sunlight; D013662:Tea / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D013662:Tea; D002392:Catechin