Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins play an important role in plant growth and development, as well as in the plant response to various abiotic stresses. In this study, CsLEA1, a novel gene encoding a LEA_3 subfamily protein, was successfully cloned from a tea plant [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze]. Bioinformatics analysis and prokaryotic expression assays showed that CsLEA1 is a typical hydrophilic protein with a molecular weight of approximately 10.4 kD. Expression analyses revealed that the transcription of CsLEA1 in C. sinensis leaves was significantly induced by cold stress. In addition, the heterologous expression of CsLEA1 increased the tolerance of Escherichia coli and yeast to cold stress, which might be closely related to the low molecular weight and high hydrophilicity of the CsLEA1. Taken together, our results suggest that CsLEA1 might have an important function in the tolerance of C. sinensis to cold stress, thus providing a potential application in molecular breeding to enhance the cold stress tolerance of tea plants.

晚期胚胎发生丰富（LEA）蛋白在植物生长和发育以及植物对各种非生物胁迫的响应中起着重要作用。在这项研究中，CsLEA1，编码LEA_3亚家族蛋白的新基因，成功地从一个茶树[C克隆amellia吸虫（L.）O. Kuntze]。生物信息学分析和原核表达测定表明，CsLEA1是一种典型的亲水蛋白，分子量约为10.4 kD。表达分析表明，转录CsLEA1在山茶叶片中显著冷应激引起的。此外，CsLEA1的异源表达提高了大肠杆菌的耐受性以及酵母对冷胁迫的影响，这可能与CsLEA1的低分子量和高亲水性密切相关。综上所述，我们的结果表明CsLEA1可能在中华茶树对冷胁迫的耐受性中具有重要的功能，从而在分子育种中提供潜在的应用，以增强茶树的冷胁迫耐受性。