CsWRKY33 Integrates Immune Signalling and Metabolic Reprogramming to Enhance Tea Plant Resistance Against Colletotrichum camelliae.

CsWRKY33 boosts tea plant resistance to Colletotrichum camelliae by activating immune genes and reprogramming metabolism, with a significant induction during infection.

• Why it matters: Understanding the core transcriptional networks controlling immunity in tea plants is crucial for developing disease-resistant cultivars, as current knowledge is limited.
• What they did: Researchers identified CsWRKY33 as a key regulator through transcriptome analysis, demonstrating its direct binding to immune gene promoters and its role in activating immune and metabolic pathways during fungal attack.
• The result: The findings reveal that CsWRKY33 enhances resistance by coordinating immune responses and metabolic shifts, making it a promising target for breeding anthracnose-resistant tea varieties.