Unique variegation characteristics of camellia cultivar ‘Kumagai’, in which chloroplasts disappear only in palisade tissue

Unique variegation characteristics of camellia cultivar ‘Kumagai’, in which chloroplasts disappear only in palisade tissue | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Unique variegation characteristics of camellia cultivar ‘Kumagai’, in which chloroplasts disappear only in palisade tissue Kento Terada, Chiyomi Uematsu, Toshihiro Yamada, Tomofumi Mochizuki, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7964991/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Variegation would be caused by reduction of chlorophyll and infection of pathogens, thus often decreases photosynthesis capacity. To elucidate the mechanisms to control the variegation, we observed an individual of camellia cultivar 'Kumagai' in which leaves are variegated only on the adaxial side. We found for the first time in woody seed plants that amount of chloroplasts was decreased only in palisade tissue while healthy chloroplasts were maintained in spongy tissue. Variegated leaves of 'Kumagai' maintained high Fv/Fm value in spite of lacking chloroplasts in palisade tissue. These results might suggest that healthy chloroplasts in spongy tissue mitigate the decrease in photosynthesis activity on variegated leaves. It should be also noted that highly variegated leaves were concentrated on specific branches. We also confirmed that this variegated ‘Kumagai’ was infected by Camellia japonica-associated betaflexivirus (CJaBV), camellia ringspot associated virus (CRSaV) and camellia yellow ringspot virus (CaYRV). These data might imply that unique variegated features of ‘Kumagi’ may be outcome of defense against viruses. Camellia Variegation Plant viruses Photosynthesis Chloroplasts Full Text Supplementary Files ESM1.xlsx ESM2.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 04 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Nov, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 28 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7964991","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":536873047,"identity":"a789b057-f822-4d50-95fc-7dd7a3592940","order_by":0,"name":"Kento 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