Response and Resistance Mechanisms of Tea Plants to Biotic Stress

Tea is one of the most popular nonalcoholic drinks consumed worldwide and is made from the tea plant leaves. The majority of tea plants grow in subtropical regions, where the warm, humid weather also favors the growth of disease and pest insects. To survive, plants must perceive attack by invading pathogens (including bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and insects and respond adequately by activating defense responses. Several genes implicated in tea plant immunity have been identified since the genomic data of tea plants were recently made public, and research is currently being done on the molecular mechanisms underlying tea plant immunity. In this chapter, we introduced pathogens and herbivorous insects occurring in tea plants and summarized key elements of the signaling pathways involved in tea immunity, as well as molecular defense mechanisms that tea plants employ to fend off diseases and insects.