Abstract:Flowering is the key process in the transformation from vegetative growth to reproductive growth in plants. The PEBP (phosphatidylethanolaminebinding protein) proteins played important roles in this process. In this study, the CsPEBP genes were identified, cloned and analyzed in tea plant. The results showed that: (1) five members of the PEBP gene family were identified and cloned from the genome of tea plant, named CsATC, CsMFT, CsBFT, CsFT and CsTFL1, respectively, and their lengths were 519-525 bp, encoding 172-174 amino acid residues, located in 5 different chromosomes, respectively. (2) The structural analysis showed that the homology of amino acid sequence of this protein family is as high as 72.7%, containing 39.88%-42.28% of free curl, belonging to 3 subfamilies, and the genetic distance of these proteins between tea plant and poplar was the closest. (3) The result of subcellular location showed that CsATC, CsMFT and CsBFT were located in cytoplasm, CsTFL1 was located in nucleus, CsFT was both located in cytoplasm and nucleus. (4) Transcriptome and realtimePCR showed that CsMFT gene had the higher expression in different tissues and under different abiotic stresses than other genes in tea plant; The expression of CsFT, CsATC and CsMFT genes were the highest in the stage of halfopened flower. (5) Promoter analysis showed that a large number of lightresponsive elements and hormoneresponsive elements were found in the promoters of CsPEBP genes. (6) CsMFT gene had two transcripts with different lengths of 525 bp and 689 bp. In summary, we cloned five CsPEBPs genes and speculated that they not only participate in the regulation of flowering, but also in the response to various adversities in tea plants, which provided a theoretical basis for the research on the flowering regulation of tea plants.