Xichen Wang , Chuchu Liu

Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, China
Author    Correspondence author
Biological Evidence, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 4   
Received: 27 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 04 Aug., 2025    Published: 19 Aug., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

As the birthplace of tea trees, China boasts the richest genetic diversity of tea trees in the world. In recent years, significant progress has been made in the genetic improvement of tea plants, covering a variety of strategies ranging from traditional selection and hybrid breeding to molecular marker-assisted selection and pan-genomics. This study reviews the main achievements of genetic improvement of Chinese tea trees, including the selection and breeding of superior varieties, the exploration of genes related to key agronomic and quality traits, and the application of molecular breeding techniques. Large-scale genomic sequencing and association analysis have revealed the genetic basis of important agronomic traits and metabolites in tea plants, providing a theoretical basis and molecular tools for precision breeding. Through the analysis of the above aspects, this study hopes that with the application of cutting-edge technologies such as gene editing and pan-genome, the genetic improvement of tea trees can become more efficient and precise, providing a solid support for the sustainable development of the tea industry in China and even globally.

Tea tree; Genetic modification; Molecular breeding; Genetic diversity; Pan-genome