| DECLARATION | 第4-5页 |
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第5-7页 |
| DEDICATION | 第7-8页 |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS | 第8-10页 |
| LIST OF TABLES | 第10-11页 |
| LIST OF FIGURES | 第11-12页 |
| LIST OF APPENDICES | 第12-13页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第13页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第15-17页 |
| LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS | 第17-19页 |
| 1．0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION | 第19-26页 |
| 1．1 JUSTIFICATION | 第23-24页 |
| 1．2 Objectives for the study | 第24-26页 |
| 2．0 GENETIC CONTROL STUDIES TO EXPLOIT FLAVONOIDS BIOSYNTHESIS PATHWAY IN CHARACTERISTIC TEA CHEMICALS IMPROVEMENT | 第26-37页 |
| 2．1 Background | 第26-28页 |
| 2．2 Biochemical synthesis of tea polyphenols | 第28-29页 |
| 2．3 Genes and Enzymes for flavonoids biosynthesis | 第29-31页 |
| 2．4 Genetic studies of flavonoids biosynthesis with respect to tea polyphenols | 第31-32页 |
| 2．5 Studies of gene expression | 第32-33页 |
| 2．6 Quantitative gene expression and function analysis techniques | 第33-34页 |
| 2．7 Prospects of understanding tea polyphenols biosynthesis and its implications | 第34-37页 |
| 3．0 ROLE OF TEA POLYPHENOLS AS SUNSCREENS IN PLANT PROTECTION | 第37-49页 |
| 3．1 Background | 第37-40页 |
| 3．2 Materials and methods | 第40-43页 |
| 3．2．1 Plant materials and growth conditions | 第40页 |
| 3．2．2 Treatment conditions | 第40-41页 |
| 3．2．3 Morphological data | 第41页 |
| 3．2．4 Effect of tea polyphenols on sunscreens synthesis gene expression | 第41-43页 |
| 3．2．5 Composition of the commercial tea polyphenols | 第43页 |
| 3．3 Results | 第43-47页 |
| 3．3．1 Alleviation of UV-B stress by tea polyphenols | 第43-44页 |
| 3．3．2 Effect of tea polyphenols on sunscreens synthesis gene expression | 第44-46页 |
| 3．3．3 Recovery from UV-B stress | 第46-47页 |
| 3．4 DISCUSSION | 第47-49页 |
| 4．0 EFFECT OF LIGHT ON TEA POLYPHENOLS ACCUMULATION IN CLONAL TEA PLANT | 第49-61页 |
| 4．1 Background | 第49-50页 |
| 4．2 Materials and methods | 第50-53页 |
| 4．2．1 Reagents, standard chemicals and equipments | 第50-51页 |
| 4．2．2 Plant materials | 第51页 |
| 4．2．3 Treatments | 第51-52页 |
| 4．2．4 Determination of tea polyphenols content | 第52页 |
| 4．2．5 Catechins content determination | 第52-53页 |
| 4．2．6 Data analysis | 第53页 |
| 4．3 RESULTS | 第53-59页 |
| 4．3．1 Effect of light on accumulation of tea polyphenols in shoots of clonal tea plants | 第54-57页 |
| 4．3．2 Effect of light on accumulation of tea polyphenols in cultured plants | 第57-58页 |
| 4．3．3 Effect of light on accumulation of tea polyphenols in pot plants | 第58-59页 |
| 4．4 Discussion | 第59-61页 |
| 5．0 EFFECT OF LIGHT AND TEMPERATURE ON EXPRESSION OF BASIC FLAVONOIDS BIOSYNTHESIS GENES | 第61-75页 |
| 5．1 Background | 第61-64页 |
| 5．2 Materials and methods | 第64-68页 |
| 5．2．1 Plant materials and treatment conditions | 第64-65页 |
| 5．2．2 RNA extraction | 第65页 |
| 5．2．3 Semi-quantitative RT-PCR | 第65-66页 |
| 5．2．4 Optimization of PCR conditions | 第66-67页 |
| 5．2．5 Gene expression and semi-quantification of PCR transcripts | 第67页 |
| 5．2．6 Confirmation of the gene transcripts and sequence analysis | 第67-68页 |
| 5．3 Results | 第68-72页 |
| 5．3．1 Screening primers | 第68-69页 |
| 5．3．2 Light treatments | 第69-71页 |
| 5．3．3 Temperature treatments | 第71页 |
| 5．3．4 Confirmation of amplified fragments | 第71-72页 |
| 5．4 Discussion | 第72-75页 |
| 6．0 CORRELATION BETWEEN TEA POLYPHENOLS ACCUMULATION AND EXPRESSION OF BASIC FLAVONOIDS BIOSYNTHESIS GENES | 第75-84页 |
| 6．1 Background | 第75-77页 |
| 6．2 MATERIALS AND METHODS | 第77-79页 |
| 6．2．1 Plant materials | 第77页 |
| 6．2．2 Methods | 第77-79页 |
| 6．2．2．1 Determination of tea polyphenols | 第77页 |
| 6．2．2．2 Analysis of catechins composition | 第77-78页 |
| 6．2．2．3 RT-PCR | 第78-79页 |
| 6．3 RESULTS | 第79-82页 |
| 6．3．1 Accumulation of the tea polyphenols | 第79-80页 |
| 6．3．2 Consistency in gene expression profiles | 第80-81页 |
| 6．3．3 Expression of the basic tea polyphenols biosynthesis genes | 第81-82页 |
| 6．4 DISCUSSION | 第82-84页 |
| 7．0 GLOBAL DETERMINATION OF GENES INVOLVED IN THE TEA POLYPHENOLS BIOSYNTHESIS | 第84-98页 |
| 7．1 Background | 第84-88页 |
| 7．2 Materials and methods | 第88-90页 |
| 7．2．1 Plant material | 第88页 |
| 7．2．2 cDNA-AFLP | 第88-90页 |
| 7．2．3 Identification of differentially expressed genes | 第90页 |
| 7．3 RESULTS | 第90-96页 |
| 7．3．1 Selection of the transcript-derived fragments | 第91-94页 |
| 7．3．2 Identification of the transcript-derived fragments | 第94-96页 |
| 7．4 Discussion | 第96-98页 |
| 8．0 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS | 第98-101页 |
| 8．1 Conclusions from the results | 第98-99页 |
| 8．2 Opportunities | 第99-101页 |
| 9．0 REFERENCES | 第101-112页 |
| 10．0 APPENDIX | 第112-115页 |
