Comparative Transcriptomic and Lipidomic Analysis of Fatty Acid Accumulation in Three Camellia oleifera Varieties During Seed Maturing

Abstract

Camellia oleifera, a major woody oil crop in China, produces tea oil rich in unsaturated fatty acids, earning it names like liquid gold and eastern olive oil. This study provides an integrated investigation of the transcriptome and lipidome within seeds at the maturing process across three C. oleifera varieties, revealing a significant relationship between fatty acid production and genes involved in lipid synthesis. Through transcriptomic analysis, 26,344 genes with varied expression were found. Functional enrichment analysis highlighted that pathways related to starch and sucrose metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, and lipid accumulation were highly enriched among the differentially expressed genes. Coordinated high expression of key genes (ACCase,