Extreme drought weather has occurred frequently in recent years, resulting in serious yield loss in tea plantations. The study of drought in tea plantations is becoming more and more intensive, but there are fewer studies on drought-resistant measures applied in actual production. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of exogenous tea polyphenols on the drought resistance of tea plant by pouring 100 mg·L-1 of exogenous tea polyphenols into the root under drought. The exogenous tea polyphenols were able to promote the closure of stomata and reduce water loss from leaves under drought stress. Drought-induced malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in tea leaves and roots was also significantly reduced by exogenous tea polyphenols. Combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses showed that exogenous tea polyphenols regulated the abnormal responses of photosynthetic and energy metabolism in leaves under drought conditions and alleviated sphingolipid metabolism, arginine metabolism, and glutathione metabolism in the root system, which enhanced the drought resistance of tea seedlings. Exogenous tea polyphenols induced jasmonic acid-isoleucine (JA-ILE) accumulation in the root system, and the jasmonic acid-isoleucine synthetase gene (TEA028623), jasmonic acid ZIM structural domain proteins (JAMs) synthesis genes (novel.22237, TEA001821), and the transcription factor MYC2 (TEA014288, TEA005840) were significantly up-regulated. Meanwhile, the flavonoid metabolic flow was significantly altered in the root; for example, the content of EGCG, ECG, and EGC was significantly increased. Thus, exogenous tea polyphenols enhance the drought resistance of tea plants through multiple pathways.
Keywords: Camellia sinensis; drought stress; flavonoids; jasmonic acid–isoleucine; metabolites; tea polyphenols.