Tea leaf color is not only important from an aesthetics standpoint but is also related to
tea quality. To investigate the molecular mechanisms that determine
tea leaf color, we examined Camellia sinensis cv. 'Anjin Baicha' (an albino
tea cultivar) by tandem mass tag isobaric labeling to generate a high-resolution
proteome and acetyl-
proteome atlas of three leaf developmental stages. We identified a total of 7,637
proteins and quantified 6,256; of these, 3,232 were classified as differentially accumulated
proteins (
DAPs). We also identified 3,161
lysine acetylation sites in 1,752
proteins and quantified 2,869 in 1,612
proteins. The acetylation levels at 468 sites were significantly altered across the three developmental stages during periodic
albinism; the corresponding
proteins were associated with a variety of biological processes. Interestingly, a large number of
DAPs and acetylated
proteins with increased/decreased acetylation were related to photosynthesis and secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways, suggesting that the accumulation or acetylation level of these
proteins regulates periodic
albinism in 'Anjin Baicha.' Additionally, overlap between succinylome and acetylome among three 'Anjin Baicha' developmental stages were found. These data provide important insight into the mechanisms of leaf coloration in the
tea plant. The mass spectrometry data have been deposited to
Proteome X change via the PRIDE partner repository with the data set identifier PXD008134.