The research shows that while fungal diversity on infected leaves drops sharply, beneficial bacteria remain stable, and some nonpathogenic microbes emerge as promising biocontrol candidates.
Plants live in constant interaction with diverse microorganisms that inhabit the soil, inner tissues, and leaf surfaces. Collectively known as the phyllosphere, these microbial communities are critical to plant survival, nutrient acquisition, and resistance to stress. In crops such as tea (Camellia sinensis), where leaves are the harvested product, phyllosphere microbes play a direct role in both yield and quality. Yet while the rhizosphere has been extensively studied, far less is known about how leaf microbiomes respond to disease pressure. Tea blister blight, which can reduce yields by up to 30% in vulnerable cultivars, is currently managed mainly by fungicides, raising costs and leaving residue risks. Due to these challenges, researchers are turning to the phyllosphere microbiome for clues that could inform greener, more targeted disease management.
A study (DOI: 10.48130/bpr-0025-0004) published in Beverage Plant Research on 06 June 2025 by Youben Yu & Shuyuan Liu’s team, Northwest A&F University, highlights the potential of harnessing the tea leaf microbiome to reduce reliance on fungicides and safeguard tea yields.
The study employed a staged-disease design combined with multi-omics approaches to track the progression of tea blister blight and its effects on the phyllosphere. High-throughput amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA and fungal ITS regions generated over three million reads from 12 samples, which clustered into 14,190 OTUs, confirming sufficient sequencing depth. Diversity metrics (Sobs, Chao1, Shannon) and PCoA analyses were used to assess microbial composition, while UpSet plots identified shared and stage-specific taxa. Network analysis using Spearman correlations highlighted microbial hubs, and targeted metabolomics profiled polyphenols, catechins, alkaloids, and volatiles across disease stages, with PLS-DA and Mantel tests linking chemical and microbial shifts. Results revealed that fungal α-diversity declined significantly from the mid-stage of infection onward, reaching its lowest at S3, while bacterial diversity remained stable. Community composition shifted, with Proteobacteria dominance in healthy leaves declining as Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes increased, while fungal communities were primarily Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, with pathogenic Exobasidium expanding sharply during infection. At the genus level, beneficial taxa such as Aureimonas, Sphingomonas, Septoria, and Taphrina declined, while Pseudomonas, Massilia, Curtobacterium, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, and Didymella increased. The co-occurrence network (73 nodes, 137 edges) showed predominantly positive correlations, with hubs including Pseudomonas, Aureimonas, Bulleromyces, and Alternaria. Metabolite profiling revealed significant reductions in EGCG and ECG, while non-ester catechins EC and EGC accumulated at specific stages, suggesting defensive roles. Volatile alkanes such as tetradecane and heptadecane increased in diseased leaves, consistent with antimicrobial activity. Mantel analyses linked shifts in microbial OTUs with catechins and alkanes (r=0.22–0.45), underscoring a tight coupling between metabolite changes and microbiome dynamics during blister blight development.
These results underscore the potential of tea’s natural microbiome as a reservoir of biocontrol solutions. Nonpathogenic bacteria and fungi identified as central network nodes could be developed into microbial inoculants to suppress blister blight. At the same time, understanding which plant metabolites enhance microbial resilience opens avenues for breeding or managing tea cultivars with stronger natural defenses. By integrating microbiome insights into disease management, the tea industry could cut back on fungicide use, lower production costs, and produce safer, higher-quality tea for consumers.
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References
DOI
10.48130/bpr-0025-0004
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.48130/bpr-0025-0004
About Beverage Plant Research
Beverage Plant Research (e-ISSN 2769-2108) is the official journal of Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and China Tea Science Society. Beverage Plant Research is an open-access, online-only journal published by Maximum Academic Press. Beverage Plant Research publishes original research, methods, reviews, editorials, and perspectives that advance the biology, chemistry, processing, and health functions of tea and other important beverage plants.