CsVTT1, a PQ-loop vacuolar amino acid transporter, mediates vacuolar theanine storage in tea plant roots under nitrogen supply

Clicks: 6
ID: 338071
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #378 of 379 articles by views in The Plant cell

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 379 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Theanine, a unique and major nitrogen storage amino acid in tea plants, is responsible for the tea umami taste and confers numerous health benefits. Despite its importance, the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating its biosynthesis and accumulation remain poorly understood. In this study, we identified a PQ-loop amino acid transporter, CsVTT1 (Vacuolar Theanine Transporter 1), through integrative analyses including yeast mutant library screening, along with correlation analysis between gene expression and theanine accumulation, and homologous gene complementation. Our findings revealed that CsVTT1 expression is nitrogen-inducible and strongly correlates with theanine accumulation in tea plant roots under different nitrogen regimes. Functional characterization in both yeast and Xenopus laevis oocytes demonstrated that CsVTT1 facilitates cytoplasmic to vacuolar transport of theanine, glutamine, arginine and other amino acids. Genetic manipulation experiments showed that CsVTT1 overexpression significantly enhanced theanine accumulation in tea plant roots, whereas its knockdown reduced theanine levels. Notably, CsVTT1 overexpression in rice greatly increased arginine accumulation, the main nitrogen storage amino acid in non-tea plants, suggesting a conserved role for CsVTT1 in nitrogen metabolism and storage, consistent with its newly identified function in mediating theanine storage in the vacuole. Consequently, CsVTT1 emerges as a promising target for genetic strategies aimed at simultaneously enhancing tea quality and nitrogen use efficiency.
Reference Key
openalex_W7224939272 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Tianyuan Yang, Junjie Wang, Sheng Luo, Yangmin Wang, Shijia Lin, Yuanyuan Luo, Huimin Feng, Biying Zhu, Ligui Xiong, Fei Wang, Yu Liu, Gaofei Ge, Shaowu Xue, William John Lucas, Zhonghua Liu, Xiaochun Wan, Guohua Xu, Zhaoliang Zhang
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal The Plant cell
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/plcell/koag332
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koag332
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.