Jie Huang¹ , Minghui Zhao¹ , Jiayao Zhou²

1 Tropical Medicinal Plant Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
2 Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Tree Genetics and Molecular Breeding, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 3   
Received: 10 Apr., 2025    Accepted: 13 May, 2025    Published: 21 May, 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.

This study discusses the genetic basis and molecular mechanism of when tea plants flower, and summarizes the progress made in identifying and verifying key genes, such as transcription factors, genes in hormone signaling pathways, and genes that can integrate flowering signals. Research has found that some major regulatory genes, such as FT, SOC1, GI and CO, play a key role in integrating light duration and temperature signals. Some non-coding RNAs, such as miRNA and lncRNA, are also involved in the detailed regulation of flowering time. Gene editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9 have also begun to be used to verify the functions of these genes. This study aims to provide a foundation for molecular breeding of tea plants, enabling people to more accurately control the flowering time and thereby increase yield and planting efficiency.

Tea (Camellia sinensis); Flowering time; Gene regulation; Non-coding RNA; Functional validation