The tea plant is an important cash crop characterized by a large genome, high heterozygosity, and high species diversity. The research team assembled a 3.26-Gb highquality chromosome-scale genome for the ‘Longjing 43’ cultivar of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis. Genomic resequencing of 139 tea accessions from around the world was used to investigate the evolution and phylogenetic relationships of tea accessions. The results illuminated that hybridization had increased the heterozygosity and wide-ranging gene flow among tea populations with the spread of tea plant cultivation. Population genetic and transcriptomic analyses revealed that during domestication, selection for disease resistance and flavor in C. sinensis var. sinensis populations had been stronger than that in C. sinensis var. assamica populations. This study provided resources for marker-assisted breeding of tea plants and set the foundation for further research on tea plant genetics and evolution.

Distribution and evolution of tea