Genomic Variation and Adaptative Evolution of Tea Plants

Tea plant is an important horticulture cash crop. Its young leaves are generally used to produce tea, which is one of the most globally consumed beverages. In the past decade, the innovation of molecular biology technologies, especially the development of next-generation high-throughput sequencing technology, has greatly promoted the studies on tea genomics and population genetics. Herein, we briefly summarize the recent progress of genetic diversity, genome variation, adaptive evolution, and domestication of tea plants of the last several decades. We also present the potential challenges for future tea plant functional genomic studies and propose leading-edge direction and critical scientific problems which need to be considered to strengthen the research in tea plants. These summaries will help tea researchers to better understand the current status of tea plant genetics and genomics and, therefore, conduct relevant studies to serve the sustainable and joint development of tea science, industry, and culture.