Objective  Myelocytomatosis proteins (MYCs), the key transcription factor in the jasmonic acid signal transduction pathway, in Camellia sinensis were identified and analyzed to help understand the underlying molecular mechanism associated with resistance of tea plants to abiotic stress.

  Method  A genome-wide analysis on the MYC family in tea plant (CsMYC) was conducted using bioinformatics methods.

  Result  Nine CsMYC members were identified in the tea plant genome which distributed unevenly in 5 chromosomes. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that the CsMYCs might originate from terrestrial plants and have undergone lineage specific differentiation. Structurally, the family had only 0 to 3 introns indicating a deletion might have occurred in evolution. Eight of the 9 CsMYCs had homologous genes of dicotyledonous plants like grape, but not of monocotyledonous plants like rice. The transcriptome data showed that, except for CsMYC 2 and CsMYC 9, all members were highly expressed in the buds and leaves. On the fluorescence quantitative tests, all members responded to MeJA stress and some also to drought, low temperature, and/or GA treatments. It indicated a likely close association of tea plants to abiotic stress played by CsMYCs. The KEGG enrichment of the CsMYCs suggested its wide involvement in the secondary metabolism pathways in tea plants.

  Conclusion  Nine CsMYCs in C. sinensis were identified in this study. The structures and potential molecular functions of the members were analyzed and predicted. Combining the results obtained by the real-time fluorescence quantification and functional enrichment analyses, it appeared that the CsMYC family might be closely associated with the response of tea plants to abiotic stress.