Masashi Omori

Genetic diversity within cultivated teas based on nucleotide sequence comparison of ribosomal RNA maturase in chloroplast DNA

Nucleotide sequences of ribosomal RNA maturase (matK) regions in chloroplast (cp)DNA were determined to assess genetic diversity within cultivated teas. One hundred-eighteen cultivated teas from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China and Japan were analyzed. The 1,230 aligned nucleotide sequences of the matK DNA of the cultivated teas showed 13 variations. These variations in the matK defined 10 different types (CJ, AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, IC, IM, TM and TV). By nucleotide alignment analysis, the matK nucleotide sequences in the samples from Japan and eastern China and from tea estates in India and Bangladesh were divided into CJ and AA types. On the other hand, the matK in the teas of Yunnan in China and southeast Asian countries shared 9 types (AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, IC, IM, TM and TV). The matK sequences of southeastern cultivars were fragmented into smaller population clusters as compared to the eastern samples. In addition, these matK types were classified into three groups. The CJ, AA and AB types were placed in the group Camellia sinensis (var. sinensis and var. assamica). The AC, IC, IM, TM and TV types had strong affinity to C. taliensis and C. irrawadiensis. AE and AD types with6-base insertions belonged to a third group. Results of the matK nucleotide sequence analysis indicated that the cultivated teas of India, Bangladesh,eastern China and Japan belonged to the group of C. sinensis. The cultivated teas in the estates of Southeast Asia region also belonged to C. sinensis. However, the native cultivars in Myanmar and southern China had a genetic similarity to C. taliensis and C. irrawadiensis. The native cultivars of Thailand and Vietnam will be associated with morphologically close taxa. In this study, we demonstrated that members of C. irrawadiensis and C. taliensis are popular cultivars found widely in the southeastern Asia. Tea cultivars of the AC, AD, AE, IC, IM, TM and TV types merit to be conserved for use as sources of desirable genes.

Characterization of flavor of tea produced different tea area

Abstract India, Sri Lanka and China are major, well known tea producing areas. In recent years, the production of Kenian and Indonesian tea also have been increased. In this study, authors were comparatively found out about flavor components of these teas produced different tea area. (1)It was showed high contents of polyphenol in Kenian tea, high contents of catechins in Austrian and Kenian tea. (2)The correlations among the scores (axes 1 and axes 2) obtained by the quantification system II and peaks in the gaschromatograms obtained by analyzing the flavor components were determined. The correlation coefficients of the Axes 1 and 2 showed that possible to do group with the flavor components in each black tea sample.

Statistical Analysis of Flavor Components and Sensory Data for Tea

In this study, we formed a data base by collecting and analyzing preference terms. Important words relating to tea were selected in accordance with the method of Ruhn et al. [1]. We carried out a preference survey by adding terms for examining teas to these important words; correlations between the results of the preference survey and the analytical data for tea components were analyzed with plural variables.