Abstract: Differences of gene expression in buds of tea cuttings in response to temperature and humidity changes were studied. The daily temperature and humidity increased by 5.15℃ and 5.10% under plastic shading treatment. Meanwhile, bud expansion of tea cuttings under plastic shading was clearly different from that of control. After digital gene expression profiling analysis, a total of 949 differential expressed genes were obtained, including 503 up- and 446 down-regulated genes from buds of tea cuttings in plastic shed. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that 360 genes were classified into 14 GO terms when P value <0.01. Seven GO terms were associated with photosynthesis. The GO term with the least P value was related to photosystem, which suggest high temperature and humidity are favorable for the induction of genes associated with photosynthesis. This study might provide new insight into understanding the mechanism of rapid propagation and related gene cloning in Camellia sinensis.

Key words: digital gene expression profiling, tea cutting, differentially expressed genes, photosynthesis