Fungal diseases such as anthracnose substantially affect the growth of tea (Camellia sinensis) plants. Identifying resistance genes and elucidating the mechanisms of resistance is crucial for breeding anthracnose-resistant tea varieties. Small RNA transcriptome sequencing was used to analyze differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target genes in tea leaves at 6 d post-inoculation with Colletotrichum camelliae, combined with functional enrichment analysis. A novel regulatory axis was delineated - comprising long noncoding RNA Cslnc924, CsmiR390a, CsTAS3 (trans-acting siRNA), CsARF2s (auxin response factors), and CsOPR2 (12-oxo-phytodienoic acid reductase) - that plays a novel role for this axis in anthracnose resistance in tea plants. Mechanistically, the 257-511 bp region of Cslnc924 binds to the promoter region (-825 to -1053 bp) of CsmiR390a, thereby activating its transcription. This upregulation of CsmiR390a positively modulated the CsmiR390a-CsTAS3-CsARF2 module, leading to the reduced expression of ARF2s (ARF2.1 and ARF2.2). Consequently, the suppression of CsOPR2-1 by ARF2s was alleviated, thereby enhancing anthracnose resistance in tea plants. This study reveals the regulatory role of the CsmiR390a-CsTAS3-CsARF2s module in tea-anthracnose resistance and deepens the understanding of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory mechanisms in tea plant defense against fungal pathogens.

Traditional crop delivery methods, such as foliar spray and soil application, face significant limitations, including nutrient loss, environmental impacts, and low delivery efficiency. Recent advances in nanomaterials have enabled novel molecular delivery platforms; however, challenges such as synthesis complexity, long-term stability, and compliance with rigorous biosafety regulations persist. To provide a simpler, lower-cost, and safer alternative, we developed a polyvinyl alcohol-based microneedle (MN) delivery system that can be precisely applied to various plant tissues, including stems, lateral branches, or petioles. This system demonstrates high delivery efficiency compared with conventional methods (3.5× higher tissue accumulation) while reducing the application dose (>90% reduction). It facilitates the delivery of diverse small molecules, ranging from fluorescent dyes to growth promoters and antiviral hormones, into plant tissues while causing minimal wounding stress. In particular, salicylic acid injection using MNs induced resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus in Nicotiana benthamiana, opening a new possibility for plant immunity engineering without gene editing. Overall, this easily fabricated and cost-effective MN system offers a promising tool for precision agriculture, enhancing plant health and productivity while significantly reducing the use of agrochemicals.

Tea plants are typical aluminum hyperaccumulators, characterized by high aluminum accumulation in roots and old leaves. However, the systematic mechanisms underlying aluminum uptake and translocation in tea plants remain largely unclear. Here, we characterized the functions of the transporter CsALS3s and their transcription factor CsART1 in the process of aluminum tolerance in tea plants. Two ABC transporter genes, CsALS3.1 and CsALS3.2, were identified via bioinformatic and expression analyses. Transcriptomic and qRT-PCR assays showed that CsALS3.1 and CsALS3.2 were highly expressed in mature leaves and roots, respectively, and specifically induced by aluminum but not by other metal ions. Subcellular localization revealed that CsALS3.1 was targeted to the tonoplast, whereas CsALS3.2 was localized to the plasma membrane. Heterologous overexpression of CsALS3s significantly enhanced aluminum tolerance of Arabidopsis. Transient overexpression in tea leaves elevated aluminum concentration in the symplast but reduced it in the apoplast. When CsALS3s was stably overexpressed into the roots of tea seedlings, the content of aluminum in the transgenic roots was significantly increased, proved that CsALS3s mediate aluminum uptake and transport. Promoter analysis identified aluminum-responsive cis-elements in CsALS3s promoters, and Dual-luciferase and yeast one-hybrid assays confirmed that CsALS3s are transcriptionally activated by CsART1. Overexpression of CsART1 in Arabidopsis and tea plants improved aluminum tolerance and root aluminum accumulation, respectively. This study reveals that the transcription factor CsART1 activates CsALS3s to promote aluminum uptake and transport in tea plants, providing a basis for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of aluminum tolerance and hyperaccumulation in tea plants.

In recent years, plant growth-promoting bacteria were being valued and applied to enhance plant health and confer resistance. The tender shoots of tea plants are rich in polyphenols, especially epigallocatechin gallate, which will return to the rhizosphere soil after being pruned. Therefore, the screening of EGCG-tolerant strains is of great significance for the development of growth-promoting bacteria for tea plants. In this paper, EGCG treatment results showed that 0.6 mg/mL EGCG significantly promoted the growth of tea plants. 16S rRNA sequencing results revealed that after 0.6 mg/mL EGCG treatment, Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota phylum were significantly enriched, and at genus level, the abundance of Burkholdeiales and Acidothermus were increased significantly. EGCG tolerance characteristics analysis exhibited that among the 75 bacteria of tea roots, 32 strains could tolerate 1.5 mg/mL EGCG. For strains Paraburkholderia (PPH), Micromonospora (FSS), and Sporosaricina (AME2), the optimal degradation concentration of EGCG was 0.6 mg/mL. With the extension of time, the content of EGCG decreased gradually. The Q-TOF-MS analysis showed that EGCG was degraded to gallic acid (GA) and epigallocatechin (EGC). Then the effects of growth-promoting and EGCG-tolerant strains PPH, FSS and AME2 on the growth of tea plants were explored. The results showed that PPH, FSS and AME2 strains all could promote the growth of tea cuttings with or without EGCG, particularly increasing the root weight. In conclusion, through comprehensive analysis, the growth-promoting and EGCG-tolerant strains were successfully identified, which hold great potential for development into microbial fertilizers to be applied in tea plantation management.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are critical regulators of stress responses in plants. Fungal pathogens such as Colletotrichum camelliae severely impair the development of tea plants (Camellia sinensis); however, mechanisms involving long ncRNAs (lncRNAs) acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) remain poorly understood in this pathosystem. Through transcriptome profiling of tea leaves 6 days post-pathogen inoculation, a ceRNA regulatory network was constructed based on expression correlation analysis. A lncRNA localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, Cslnc256, was identified to function as a molecular decoy for CsmiR395, thereby protecting the sulfate transporter gene CsSULTR2;1 from CsmiR395-mediated degradation. Our findings revealed that CsmiR395-directed cleavage of CsSULTR2;1 positively regulated sulfate metabolism and enhanced disease resistance. Silencing Cslnc256 enhanced pathogen resistance, whereas transient overexpression reduced the plant defense capacity. Single-base substitution mapping, coupled with Nicotiana benthamiana transient expression and β-glucuronidase reporter assays, confirmed that the 1345-1356 bp region of Cslnc256 constitutes the critical interaction domain for CsmiR395. This study elucidated the molecular mechanism by which the Cslnc256-CsmiR395-CsSULTR2;1 module dynamically regulates sulfur metabolism to coordinate tea plant responses, providing novel insights into RNA-mediated regulatory networks that govern plant-pathogen interactions. These findings offer a new perspective for deciphering RNA-layered responses in crop protection strategies.

Abstract Catechins, including monomeric forms and oligomeric proanthocyanidins (PAs), are the primary compounds responsible for tea astringency. Under stress conditions, changes in the biosynthetic regulation of catechins are part of the molecular mechanisms underlying the resistance of tea plants. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades play crucial regulatory roles in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the role of MAPK cascades in catechin biosynthesis in tea plants is still unclear. Through omics analyses, this study focused on the phosphorylation of leucoanthocyanidin reductase b (LARb), a key terminal enzyme in catechin biosynthesis, by multiple MAPKs at Ser-5 in its N-terminal sequence, including CsMAPK3–1, CsMAPK4–2, and CsMAPK6. Furthermore, by integrating omics data with protein interaction validation, we identified the ‘CsMEKK1–1–CsMKK1/6–CsMAPK3–1/4–2/6’ and ‘CsMEKK7–1-CsMKK5-CsMAPK3/4–2’ cascades. These cascades appear to play significant roles in the regulation of catechin and PA synthesis by modulating CsLARb phosphorylation. This regulation occurred in response to various environmental stimuli, including variations in exogenous sucrose levels and abiotic stresses, such as cold and UV radiation. Moreover, phosphorylation significantly enhanced CsLARb stability. Additional experiments demonstrated that the overexpression of CsLARb and CsLARbS5D in transgenic tobacco increased catechin levels. These findings not only elucidate the role of MAPK cascades in regulating stress-induced flavonoid metabolism in tea plants via phosphorylation but also identify novel targets for improving tea quality and stress resilience.

Aluminum is toxic to most plants, but low concentrations of aluminum are conducive to the growth of tea plants. However, it is not clear whether aluminum treatment alters the rhizosphere microbiome of tea plants, especially growth-promoting rhizosphere bacteria. In this study, we used 16S rRNA sequencing to demonstrate that after aluminum treatment, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in the rhizosphere bacterial community was the highest, with Burkholderia being enriched and the dominant strain. In addition, 53 strains of culturable rhizosphere bacteria, including 17 strains of Firmicutes, 23 strains of Proteobacteria, and 10 strains of Actinobacteria, were isolated and identified from the rhizosphere soil of tea plants. Further analysis of the 53 rhizosphere bacterial strains revealed that 21 strains exhibited four growth-promoting abilities. Among them, Bacillus NVLP_s (FNVLP) exhibited the maximum indole-3-acetic acid production capacity. Additionally, 51 strains could tolerate an aluminum concentration of at least 1 mol L-1, and Sinomonas gamaensis (ASG) exhibited the maximum aluminum tolerance ability, up to an aluminum concentration of 6 mmol L-1. Plant-bacteria interactions showed that ASG, FNVLP, Paraburkholderia hospita (PPH), and their synthetic community exhibited growth-promoting effects on rice roots. Furthermore, ASG, FNVLP, and PPH significantly alleviated aluminum stress in rice. Moreover, PPH and ASG promoted the growth of tea plants, especially the growth of lateral roots, irrespective of the presence of aluminum; and PPH inoculation enriched the Burkholderia community and improved carbohydrate metabolism and hormone biosynthesis and metabolism. Overall, a few bacterial strains with aluminum-tolerant and growth-promoting abilities were enriched in the rhizosphere and promoted the growth of tea plants after aluminum treatment. Thus, this study laid the foundation for further development and utilization of aluminum-tolerant, growth-promoting bacteria for the cultivation and management of tea plants.

Tea anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum camelliae, poses a serious threat to tea yield and quality. While certain transcription factors have been implicated in stress responses, the core transcriptional networks governing immunity in tea plants remain largely elusive. In this study, we identify CsWRKY33 as a central regulator that orchestrates immune responses and metabolic reprogramming during C. camelliae infection in tea plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed that CsWRKY33 is significantly induced upon fungal challenge and functions downstream of both pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Mechanistically, protein-promoter affinity experiments demonstrated that CsWRKY33 directly binds to W-box motifs in the promoters of key immune genes, including CsSERK2, CsMPK3, CsCDPK32, CsPR1B, CsWIN2 and CsRPM1. Dual-luciferase assays and functional validations further confirmed that CsWRKY33 activates its expression, forming a positive feedback loop that amplifies immune signalling. Concurrently, CsWRKY33 modulates primary metabolism by repressing photosynthetic genes such as CsRCA and enhances secondary metabolism by directly activating phenylpropanoid pathway genes such as CsPAL and CsCAD1. These coordinated transcriptional programmes reallocate energy and resources toward defence, thereby enhancing resistance. We propose a working model in which CsWRKY33 serves as a transcriptional hub linking immune activation with metabolic adjustment to facilitate efficient defence. This study provides new insights into WRKY-mediated immunity in perennial woody plants and highlights CsWRKY33 as a promising target for molecular breeding of anthracnose-resistant tea cultivars.

The tea (Camellia sinensis) cultivated in Xizang provides a valuable context for studying the impacts of climate on tea growth and the accumulation of quality components. Meteorological data indicate that as altitude in Xizang increases, solar radiation, light intensity, and ultraviolet radiation (UV) also increase, while atmospheric temperature decreases. Specifically, the extreme climate conditions in the high-altitude Bayi region—characterized by low average air temperature (AAT10), intense solar radiation and UV exposure, and strong winds—render it unsuitable for optimal tea growth. Comparative analyses reveal that the accumulation of non-volatile quality components, such as phenolic acids, catechins, PAs, and flavonol glycosides, as well as volatile quality components like heptaldehyde, 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, butylated hydroxytoluene, and dimethyl sulfide, is positively correlated with atmospheric and soil temperatures. In contrast, non-volatile components, including theanine, hydrolyzed tannins, and K and Q flavonol mono- or di-glycosides, are positively correlated with altitude and light intensity. The results of metabolomics and transcriptomics indicate that the influence of meteorological factors on the accumulation of quality components varies significantly across different altitudes in Xizang. Tea grown in Xizang exhibited higher levels of terpenes, phenolic compounds, and jasmonic acid (JA); 13-LOX-dependent jasmonic acid biosynthesis appeared to be positively regulated by colored film mulching and temperature, yet negatively affected by PEG-induced osmotic stress. Genes related to the synthesis of terpene synthase and phenolic compounds were co-regulated by JA and multiple environmental factors. This study elucidates the correlation between complex ecological environments in high-altitude areas and the accumulation of tea quality components.

Abstract Galloylated catechins are pivotal secondary metabolites that confer both the characteristic bitter-astringent flavor and the health benefits to tea. It is known that the co-expression of the catalytic enzyme CsSCPL4 and its non-catalytic companion paralog CsSCPL5 is essential for catalyzing the synthesis of galloylated catechins. However, how CsSCPL5 performs its companion function has not been elucidated. A key challenge is that the cleavage of C-terminal tags during post-translational processing prevents the production of functional tagged proteins, thereby impeding the investigation of the CsSCPL4-CsSCPL5 interaction mechanism. In this study, mature epitope-tagged CsSCPL5 was generated by co-expressing CsSCPL4 with CsSCPL5 bearing a Flag tag in specific internal loop regions. Co-immunoprecipitation and enzymatic assays demonstrated that the CsSCPL4-CsSCPL5 interaction occurs in both precursor and mature forms, and that the function depends on the mature CsSCPL4-CsSCPL5 heteromeric complex. Based on the heteromeric structure predicted by AlphaFold 3, site-directed mutagenesis of the interaction sites abolished enzymatic activity. Consistently, immunoblot analysis revealed that these mutations reduced precursor stability and prevented mature complex formation, indicating the importance of CsSCPL4-CsSCPL5 complex in function. Our study of the interaction between CsSCPL4 and CsSCPL5 provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the galloylated catechins biosynthetic pathway in plants.

Anthocyanins are important secondary metabolites in tea plants (Camellia sinensis), contributing to stress tolerance in the plant and providing health benefits to humans. However, the regulatory roles of NAC transcription factors (TFs) in anthocyanin biosynthesis remain largely unknown in tea plants. Here, we identified CsNAC32, a NAC TF, whose expression level shows an inverse relationship with anthocyanin accumulation in tea leaves under low-temperature treatment. Overexpression of CsNAC32 in Arabidopsis thaliana reduced anthocyanin content in hypocotyls. Protein structural modeling, yeast two-hybrid assay (Y2H), split-luciferase assay (Split-LUC), and dual-luciferase complementation assay (LUC) revealed that CsNAC32 competes with CsMYB6a for CsTT8 binding, thereby reducing the transcriptional activity of the CsANS promoter and ultimately inhibiting anthocyanin biosynthesis. Collectively, these results establish CsNAC32 as a negative regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis in tea plants. Our findings uncover a previously unrecognized competitive inhibition mechanism of CsNAC32 within the MYB6a-TT8-WD40 complex and provide a potential target for genetic breeding to improve tea quality and stress adaptation.

Fungal diseases such as anthracnose substantially affect the growth of tea (Camellia sinensis) plants. Understanding disease-resistance mechanisms and identifying resistance genes will aid in breeding resistant varieties. Noncoding RNAs, including long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), play critical roles in regulating plant immunity by influencing target gene expression; however, their role in disease resistance of tea plants remains underexplored. Here, we used RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs in C. sinensis following infection with Colletotrichum camelliae. Our analysis revealed 524 antisense lncRNA-mRNA pairs and 3,588 cis-acting lncRNA-mRNA pairs involved in photosynthesis, amino acid biosynthesis, fatty acid metabolism, and secondary metabolism pathways such as flavonoid biosynthesis. Among these, we identified the cis-acting pair Cslnc170-CsLOX4 (encoding a 13-lipoxygenase) as a key regulator of disease resistance. The Cslnc170 gene (1,581 bp) lies 9,254 bp downstream of the CsLOX4 gene, a member of the 13-lipoxygenase family. Functional studies showed that Cslnc170 activates CsLOX4 expression via loop 4 of its secondary structure and the CsLOX4 promoter region (930 to 952 bp). Agrobacterium-mediated overexpression and antisense-oligonucleotide-mediated silencing experiments confirmed that the Cslnc170-CsLOX4 pair enhances resistance to anthracnose in tea leaves. These findings provide insights into the regulatory role of lncRNA-mRNA pairs, offering potential targets for improving disease resistance in tea plants.

Acylated flavonol glycosides can regulate plant growth, improve plant stress resistance and disease resistance. We have found that some specific acetylated flavonol glycosides accumulated in the tea roots, but their metabolic characteristics and the mechanism of biosynthetic regulation were not clear. In this paper, the flavonol glycosides in tea seedlings were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by UPLC-TOF-MS/MS and UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS. The results showed that acetylated kaempferol glycosides were specifically accumulated in root tips of tea plants, and these flavonol glycosides were enriched by Al treatment. Then, two acylation genes (CsAT1 and CsAT2) of the BAHD acyltransferase family that were highly expressed in the tender roots of tea plants and induced by aluminum were screened out for further function study. In vitro, the results of enzyme activity experiments indicated that the recombinant proteins CsAT1 and CsAT2 could catalyze flavonol-7-O-glucoside to the corresponding acetylated flavonol glycosides and flavonol. When CsAT1 was transiently overexpressed in Nicotiana benthamiana, the protein CsAT1 could hydrolyze kaempferol-7-O-glucoside to kaempferol. When CsAT1 was heterologous overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana, the substrate kaempferol-7-O-glucoside decreased significantly over time. Using hairy root experiment system, CsAT1 was stably overexpressed in the roots of tea plants. The results of metabolic analysis indicated that the content of non-acylated flavonol glycosides remained unchanged or decreased in the roots of tea plants overexpressing CsAT1, while the accumulation of acylated flavonol glycosides significantly increased. In conclusion, acylated flavonol glycosides were specifically accumulated in tea roots, its biosynthesis is catalyzed by acyltransferase CsATs and induced by aluminum. This study laid a foundation for further revealing the mechanism of aluminum tolerance of tea plants, and had certain guiding significance in the cultivation and breeding of tea plant.

Constipation is a common chronic disease, and its complicated pathological mechanism and individual differences increase the difficulty of diagnosis and treatment. This study proposed a constipation diagnosis and treatment system design scheme based on information technology, which integrated several key modules such as data collection, intelligent diagnosis and analysis based on machine learning, real-time monitoring and user interface operation convenience optimization, aiming to bring more accurate and efficient solutions for constipation treatment.

Maize (Zea Mays L.) is one of the major food crops in the world, and salt stress has become one of the main environmental constraints on maize yield. Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA), as an environment-friendly green molecular material, plays an important role in plant growth and regulation. In this project, the effect of γ-PGA on salt tolerance of maize and its mechanism were studied. In this study, the effect of γ-PGA in maize under the salt stress was observed using the solution culturing and soil pot method. And the mechanism of γ-PGA in the salt resistance were analyzed. The application of γ-PGA could significantly improve the salt resistance of maize by increasing the ratio of K+/Na+, the content of proline, enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes in maize, and could also induce the expression of genes associated with osmotic stress, Na+/H+ antiporters, potassium high-affinity transporters, high-affinity K+ transporters, and antioxidant enzymes, which collectively enhanced the osmotic, ionic, and oxidative stresses resistance in maize. Additionally, an analysis of rhizosphere soil bacterial community diversity and structure revealed that γ-PGA enriched salt-tolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPBs) such as Salinimicrobium, Pseudomonas, Denitromonas, and Halomonas under saline conditions. γ-PGA enhanced salt resistance of maize by increasing the osmotic, ion, and oxidative stresses resistance and enriching the salt-tolerant PGPBs in rhizosphere soil. This study emphasized the possibility of γ-PGA to improve crop salt resistance and soil ecological environment under soil salt condition and promote the utilization of saline land.

The tea plant (Camellia sinensis), native to warm and humid low-latitude regions of southwestern China, has expanded to higher altitudes, including southeastern Xizang, where cultivation above 2500 m poses challenges due to low accumulated temperatures. However, the impact of high-altitude climatic conditions, particularly temperature, on tea growth remains underexplored. To investigate, weather stations were deployed at three altitudes in southeastern Xizang to monitor spring temperature fluctuations: Medog (MD, 1200 m), Zayü (ZY, 1720 m), and Layue in Bayi District (BY, 2600 m). Field observations and meteorological data indicated that the milder spring temperatures in MD and ZY facilitated normal budburst and growth, whereas the lower temperatures in BY delayed budburst and resulted in leaf yellowing and browning. Comparative experiments revealed that seedlings exposed to fluctuating low temperatures (10°C/4°C) experienced the most severe cold injury and exhibited the lowest germination rates compared to seedlings under constant-temperature treatments. Transcriptome analysis uncovered differential expression of genes involved in chlorophyll degradation, lignin biosynthesis, and flavonoid pathways under cold stress. Functional characterization of the cold-induced transcription factor CsABF2 revealed its central role in activating these pathways, as evidenced by antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (AsODN) silencing and promoter activation assays, to activate key downstream genes: CsSGR1 (chlorophyll degradation), CsPALa (phenylpropanoid pathway), and CsMYB6c (flavonoid biosynthesis). These results provide mechanistic insights into how spring temperature variability at high altitudes impairs tea plant development and alters quality-related metabolites, offering a molecular basis for improving cold resilience in tea cultivation.

In plants, α/β-hydrolase regulates the hydrolysis of ester compounds, enriching the types and functions of specialized metabolites. In this study, three genes─CsCSE, CsCXE3, and CsTA─which encode caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE), carboxylesterase (CXE), and tannase (TA), respectively, were isolated from the tea plant genome through multiomics correlation analysis. Evolutionary analysis showed that CSE and CXE were ancient, whereas TA emerged in core eudicots approximately 120 million years ago. Enzyme activity assays revealed that CsCSE and CsCXE3 catalyze phenolic acid and acetate ester hydrolysis, respectively. Interestingly, CsTA not only has the catalytic function of CsCSE and CsCXE3 but also catalyzes the hydrolysis of galloylated catechin, hydrolyzable tannin, and hormone ester. Overall, CsTA is a newly derived α/β-hydrolase with evolutionary and functional divergence features. This study expands our understanding of the physiological significance of plant TA and provides insights into the potential role of CsTA in the complex metabolic processes of tea plants.

Plant-soil-microbe interactions can affect plant growth, development, and health. Plants can secrete bioactive molecules into the rhizosphere to alter the soil microbiota, further influencing plant growth. In this paper, the effects of flavonols secreted by tea roots on the remodeling of rhizosphere bacteria and on growth of tea plants were explored. Aluminum treatment significantly promoted the growth of tea plants, the accumulation of flavonols glycosides in the roots and the secretion of flavonols glycosides from roots. 16S rRNA analysis indicated that after aluminum treatment, the rhizosphere bacteria Burkholderia of the Proteobacteria phylum were significantly enriched. Compared to 'Longjin43' (LJ43), in roots of 'Huangjinye' (HJY), more flavonols were accumulated, so did in the root exudates. Moreover, Burkholderia in the rhizosphere of 'HJY' was significantly enriched. The results of correlation analysis indicated that the abundance of Burkholderia was significantly positively correlated with the secretion of flavonols under aluminum treatment or in different tea cultivar. Then 0.05 mM kaempferol were exogenous application to confirm the growth-promoting effect of flavonols on tea plants and the recruitment of Burkholderia in rhizosphere of tea roots. In conclusion, tea roots secrete flavonol glycosides into the rhizosphere soil, which can recruit Burkholderia and further promote the growth of tea plants. This study laid foundation for the subsequent development of bacterial fertilizers to promote the growth of tea plants.