Abstract
Tea, derived from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, is a globally consumed beverage with considerable nutritional and economic value. Specific cultivars exhibit a striking purple leaf coloration due to anthocyanin accumulation, yet the molecular mechanisms governing this trait remain incompletely understood. In this study, we identified a sense-intronic long non-coding RNA, Cs_lncRNA.18443.6, that is co-expressed with CsUFGT (UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase) and is predicted to act in cis on this gene. Together with the transcription factor CsMYB12, these components form a hypothesized three-tier regulatory module that contributes to anthocyanin accumulation in purple tea leaves. CsUFGT emerges as a potential regulatory hub in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), combined with the construction of a competing endogenous RNA network construction reveals Cs_lncRNA.18443.6 as a cis-acting lncRNA associated with CsUFGT expression. This association was supported by RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), transient expression assays in transgenic tobacco, and RT-qPCR analysis. Dual-luciferase reporter assays provided preliminary evidence that Cs_lncRNA.18443.6 influences CsUFGT transcription by affecting CsMYB12-dependent promoter activation. These findings uncover a previously uncharacterized lncRNA association with anthocyanin biosynthesis and offer new hypotheses and provide candidate targets for the molecular breeding of anthocyanin-enriched tea cultivars.
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Data availability
All the data used in this research have been deposited to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) under the BioProject accession number PRJNA1019822 and BioSample: SAMN37497780. All Supplementary Tables are found in Supplementary Data 1. The numerical source data (Figs. 6, 8d, h–k) for the graphs can be found in Supplementary Data 2. Supplementary Fig. 1, Data 1 and 2 are available online.
Code availability
The main code sources for the prediction of lncRNA used in this study are available at Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/10976644.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Guidance Foundation for Local Science and Technology Development of China (2023-009), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32260086), China Scholarship Council. Grant (No. 202108525029) and the Cultivation Project of Guizhou University (Gzu.2020 No.65).
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S.N. and B.X. conceived the project and designed the study; Q.S. and L.Z. collected and raised the plants; Q.L. and Y.Y. sampled the materials; B.X., Q.L., and Y.Y. performed the formal experiments; B.W., Q.L., and Y.Y. performed the transgenic tobacco experiments; B.X. and L.Z. performed the bioinformatic data analysis; B.X., Q.L., and Y.Y. performed the formal analysis and data curation; B.X. and Q.L. designed and visualized the tables and figures; B.X. and L.Z. wrote the first manuscript; Q.C. provided suggestions and facilities and edited and revised the manuscript; S.N., Q.C., and B.X. supervised the entire project; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Xiong, B., Zhang, L., Li, Q. et al. A long noncoding RNA modulates anthocyanin biosynthesis in Camellia sinensis. Commun Biol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09785-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09785-7
