Tea

Micropropagation protocol has been standardized for tea.  Interestingly, a novel inducer for rapid shoot growth and multiplication was identified for in vitro propagation.  Protocol has also been developed for raising somatic embryos.  However, somatic embryos do not mature normally and germination is either poor or precocious.  Studies were conducted to identify the cause.  It was observed that supplementation of nutrient precursors and readily available carbohydrates like sucrose or maltose together with trans-cinnamic acid improved somatic embryo germination to 70%.

Protocol are being standardized for raising transgenic tea using genes of interest like osmotin, chitinase and SOD.

            Under tea network programme, the fingerprinting of tea germplasm is being carried out so that redundancy in revoked and better utilization is possible.  Also, work is in progress on microsatellite marker for their application. AFLP of tea clones were generated.

            Research is being carried out to study winter dormancy in tea which affects yield, land use, infrastructure and labour. The study indicates role of oxidative stress in modulating the dormancy.  Also, several dormancy related cDNAs were identiifed.  

            Under NMITLI project the full length gene pertaining to catechin biosynthesis was isolated and cloned for the first time.

Fig: Differential display mediated cloning of genes involved in catechin biosynthesispathway

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