Comparative and Adaptive Analyses of the Complete Chloroplast Genome Diversity in .

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: is distributed in Korea, China, and Japan. It was first identified as the genus and then reclassified as by Kitagawa. Some species are used as herbal medicine and are often confused with the similar form . In this study, we analyzed the cp genome of and conducted comparative analyses with the cp genomes of related taxa.

METHODS

We extracted gDNA from fresh leaves and sequenced it using Illumina HiSeq2500. For the chloroplast genome assembly, de novo assembly was performed using Velvet v1.2.07. For the annotation, GeSeq and NCBI BLASTN were used. Afterwards, related taxa were analyzed using programs such as DnaSP and MISA.

RESULTS

was excluded from the study on the chloroplast (cp) genome in because it was classified as in China. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the cp genome of for the first time and its location within the genus . The complete cp genome of was 154,755 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeats, each 26,255 bp, a large single-copy region of 84,581 bp, and a small single-copy region of 17,664 bp. The cp genome comprised 79 protein-coding, 30 tRNA, and 4 rRNA genes. Furthermore, six regions of high nucleotide diversity were identified in the genus . In the genus , 1630 repeats that can serve as markers were also identified. Eight protein-coding genes with high K/K values were under positive selection in the . Our phylogenetic analyses suggest that was positioned with high bootstrap support within the of the tribe , specifically in the southern Palearctic subclade.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the chloroplast genome was sequenced and assembled. The genus formed a monophyletic group; however, as not all the species were included in this study, further research is necessary. This study can serve as foundational data not only for but also for the tribe Oenantheae.