Abstract: Tea plant[Camellia sinensis（L.）O. Kuntze]is an ammonium preferring plant species，and the two main inorganic nitrogen sources ammonium（NH4+）and nitrate（NO3-）are absorbed with distinct absorption and assimilation rates. Previous studies showed that preference assimilation of ammonium in tea plant maybe due to the different mechanisms behind the processes of utilization and assimilation of these two nitrogen forms. Glutamine synthetase（GS）has been dissected to restrict nitrogen assimilation in plants. In this review，we sort out the research progress of pivotal role of genes involved in nitrogen absorption and assimilation in tea plant，specifically the GS1 family gene，which would help to clarify the whole process of nitrogen utilization and assimilation in tea plant.

Key words: tea plant, nitrogen, absorption and assimilation, nitrogen preference assimilation, glutamine synthetase