New Research Indicates Three Distinct Domestication Events for Camellia sinensis
Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:56 pm
Indications for Three Independent Domestication Events for the Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) and New Insights into the Origin of Tea Germplasm in China and India Revealed by Nuclear Microsatellites (2016)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878758/
Research by scientists in China, India, Sri Lanka, and UK presents new findings about tea genetics, and contravenes some prevailing wisdom by concluding that tea was domesticated independently at least three separate times, twice in China and once in India.
Highlights:
"We demonstrate that Chinese Assam tea is a distinct genetic lineage from Indian Assam tea, and that China tea sampled from India was likely introduced from China directly. Our results further indicate that China type tea, Chinese Assam type tea and Indian Assam type tea are likely the result of three independent domestication events from three separate regions across China and India."
"The interesting finding in our study was that Assam tea from China is not closely related to that of India. All analyses performed... clearly show that the Chinese and Indian Assam teas are genetically distinct and showed a significant genetic differentiation. Compared to China, the recorded cultivation history of Assam type tea is relatively short in India. It has been earlier assumed that Indian Assam tea was introduced from Yunnan, China through Myanmar to India, even though it was discovered in Assam, India in 1823 and subsequently cultivated here. Given the short breeding history of this tea in Assam, it seems unlikely that plants introduced from China to India would form distinct lineages in both countries."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4878758/
Research by scientists in China, India, Sri Lanka, and UK presents new findings about tea genetics, and contravenes some prevailing wisdom by concluding that tea was domesticated independently at least three separate times, twice in China and once in India.
Highlights:
"We demonstrate that Chinese Assam tea is a distinct genetic lineage from Indian Assam tea, and that China tea sampled from India was likely introduced from China directly. Our results further indicate that China type tea, Chinese Assam type tea and Indian Assam type tea are likely the result of three independent domestication events from three separate regions across China and India."
"The interesting finding in our study was that Assam tea from China is not closely related to that of India. All analyses performed... clearly show that the Chinese and Indian Assam teas are genetically distinct and showed a significant genetic differentiation. Compared to China, the recorded cultivation history of Assam type tea is relatively short in India. It has been earlier assumed that Indian Assam tea was introduced from Yunnan, China through Myanmar to India, even though it was discovered in Assam, India in 1823 and subsequently cultivated here. Given the short breeding history of this tea in Assam, it seems unlikely that plants introduced from China to India would form distinct lineages in both countries."