Exogenous stimulation-induced biosynthesis of volatile compounds: Aroma formation of oolong tea at postharvest stage

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced by plants responding to biotic and abiotic stresses. According to their biosynthetic sources, induced VOCs are divided into three major classes: terpenoids, phenylpropanoid/benzenoid, and fatty acid derivatives. These compounds with specific aroma characteristics importantly contribute to the aroma quality of oolong tea. Shaking and rocking is the crucial procedure for the aroma formation of oolong tea by exerting mechanical damage to fresh tea leaves. Abundant studies have been carried out to investigate the formation mechanisms of VOCs during oolong tea processing in recent years. This review systematically introduces the biosynthesis of VOCs in plants, and the volatile changes due to biotic and abiotic stresses are summarized and expatiated, using oolong tea as an example.

Keywords:

• Biosynthesis
• Camellia sinensis
• oolong tea
• processing
• stress
• volatile organic compounds

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31872709), the Key Researc Project for Chinese Academy of Agric h and Development Program of Zhejiang (2022C02033), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang (LQ20C160009), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (2020J01544), and the Innovation Project for Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS-ASTIP-2016-TRI).