Transcriptome profiling of tea in response to nitrogen deficiency

Nitrogen (N) is the key factor limiting the crop growth and development. As an economically important crop, tea is strongly nitrogen-dependent. However, the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying the response of N deficiency in tea are not fully understood. Tea cultivar Chunlv2 (Camellia sinensis ) were cultured with nutrient solution with 0 mM (N-deficiency) or 3 (control) mM NH4NO3 in 6 L pottery pots containing clean river sands. By using RNA-seq technique and subsequent bioinformatics analysis, 3050 up-regulated and 2688 down-regulated DEGs were isolated in tea leaf in response to N deficiency.