scholarly journals Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence and Phylogenetic Inference of the Canary Islands Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco L.)

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Konrad Celiński ◽  
Hanna Kijak ◽  
Justyna Wiland-Szymańska

Dracaena draco, which belongs to the genus Dracaena, is an endemic succulent of the Canary Islands. Although it is one of the most popular and widely grown ornamental plants in the world, little is known about its genomic variability. Next generation sequencing, especially in combination with advanced bioinformatics analysis, is a new standard in taxonomic and phylogenetic research. Therefore, in this study, the complete D. draco chloroplast genome (cp) was sequenced and analyzed in order to provide new genomic information and to elucidate phylogenetic relationships, particularly within the genus Dracaena. The D. draco chloroplast genome is 155,422 bp, total guanine-cytosine (GC) content is 37.6%, and it has a typical quadripartite plastid genome structure with four separate regions, including one large single copy region of 83,942 bp length and one small single copy region of 18,472 bp length, separated by two inverted repeat regions, each 26,504 bp in length. One hundred and thirty-two genes were identified, 86 of which are protein-coding genes, 38 are transfer RNAs, and eight are ribosomal RNAs. Seventy-seven simple sequence repeats were also detected. Comparative analysis of the sequence data of various members of Asparagales revealed mutational hotspots potentially useful for their genetic identification. Phylogenetic inference based on 16 complete chloroplast genomes of Asparagales strongly suggested that Dracaena species form one monophyletic group, and that close relationships exist between D. draco, D. cochinchinensis and D. cambodiana. This study provides new and valuable data for further taxonomic, evolutionary and phylogenetic studies within the Dracaena genus.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewang Xu ◽  
Chenxue Lin ◽  
Shiou Yih Lee ◽  
Lingfeng Mao ◽  
Kaikai Meng

Abstract BackgroundDespite many species of Ilex (Aquifoliaceae) are of horticultural importance and are widely grown in parks and gardens throughout the world for their foliage and decorative berries, limited genetic information has greatly hampered our understanding of the chloroplast genome evolution and phylogenetic relationships within the genus. This study attempted to address these problems by comparing the chloroplast genomes and analyzing phylogenetic relationships within the genus.ResultsIn this study, analyses of chloroplast genome structure, codon usage, GC content, gene rearrangement, nucleotide diversity, inverted repeats (IR) boundary, repeat sequence, and SSR component were conducted by comparing 41 chloroplast genomes of Ilex. The results showed that these Ilex chloroplast genomes were evolutionary conserved at the genome level and no rearrangement of the complete cp genome in the 41 Ilex genomes was recorded. On the contrary, there were still a few mutational hotspots identified from these chloroplast genomes, which were considered as hypervariable regions useful for future phylogenetic studies and DNA barcoding. Using the complete chloroplast genome sequences, we reconstructed a highly supported phylogeny of Ilex and well-resolved the complicated relationships among the different lineages within Ilex.ConclusionThe present study increased our understanding of the chloroplast genome evolution and phylogenetic relationships within Ilex. The availability of these genetic resources will be helpful for the future studies in DNA barcoding, species delimitation, phylogenetic reconstruction as well as the hybridization and introgression events between distantly related lineages within Ilex.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Feng Zhang ◽  
Jacob B. Landis ◽  
Hong-Xin Wang ◽  
Zhi-Xin Zhu ◽  
Hua-Feng Wang

Abstract Background Myrtales is a species rich branch of Rosidae, with many species having important economic, medicinal, and ornamental value. At present, although there are reports on the chloroplast structure of Myrtales, a comprehensive analysis of the chloroplast structure of Myrtales is lacking. Phylogenetic and divergence time estimates of Myrtales are mostly constructed by using chloroplast gene fragments, and the support for relationships is low. A more reliable method to reconstruct the species divergence time and phylogenetic relationships is by using whole chloroplast genomes. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the structural characteristics of Myrtales chloroplasts, compared variation hotspots, and reconstructed the species differentiation time of Myrtales with four fossils and one secondary calibration point. Results A total of 92 chloroplast sequences of Myrtales, representing six families, 16 subfamilies and 78 genera, were obtained including nine newly sequenced chloroplasts by whole genome sequencing. Structural analyses showed that the chloroplasts range in size between 152,214–171,315 bp and exhibit a typical four part structure. The IR region is between 23,901–36,747 bp, with the large single copy region spanning 83,691–91,249 bp and the small single copy region spanning 11,150–19,703 bp. In total, 123–133 genes are present in the chloroplasts including 77–81 protein coding genes, four rRNA genes and 30–31 tRNA genes. The GC content was 36.9–38.9%, with the average GC content being 37%. The GC content in the LSC, SSC and IR regions was 34.7–37.3%, 30.6–36.8% and 39.7–43.5%, respectively. By analyzing nucleotide polymorphism of the chloroplast, we propose 21 hypervariable regions as potential DNA barcode regions for Myrtales. Phylogenetic analyses showed that Myrtales and its corresponding families are monophyletic, with Combretaceae and the clade of Onagraceae + Lythraceae (BS = 100%, PP = 1) being sister groups. The results of molecular dating showed that the crown of Myrtales was most likely to be 104.90 Ma (95% HPD = 87.88–114.18 Ma), and differentiated from the Geraniales around 111.59 Ma (95% HPD = 95.50–118.62 Ma). Conclusions The chloroplast genome structure of Myrtales is similar to other angiosperms and has a typical four part structure. Due to the expansion and contraction of the IR region, the chloroplast genome sizes in this group are slightly different. The variation of noncoding regions of the chloroplast genome is larger than those of coding regions. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Combretaceae and Onagraceae + Lythraceae were well supported as sister groups. Molecular dating indicates that the Myrtales crown most likely originated during the Albian age of the Lower Cretaceous. These chloroplast genomes contribute to the study of genetic diversity and species evolution of Myrtales, while providing useful information for taxonomic and phylogenetic studies of Myrtales.


Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huyen-Trang Vu ◽  
Ngan Tran ◽  
Thanh-Diem Nguyen ◽  
Quoc-Luan Vu ◽  
My-Huyen Bui ◽  
...  

Paphiopedilum delenatii is a native orchid of Vietnam with highly attractive floral traits. Unfortunately, it is now listed as a critically endangered species with a few hundred individuals remaining in nature. In this study, we performed next-generation sequencing of P. delenatii and assembled its complete chloroplast genome. The whole chloroplast genome of P. delenatii was 160,955 bp in size, 35.6% of which was GC content, and exhibited typical quadripartite structure of plastid genomes with four distinct regions, including the large and small single-copy regions and a pair of inverted repeat regions. There were, in total, 130 genes annotated in the genome: 77 coding genes, 39 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 6 pseudogenes. The loss of ndh genes and variation in inverted repeat (IR) boundaries as well as data of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and divergent hotspots provided useful information for identification applications and phylogenetic studies of Paphiopedilum species. Whole chloroplast genomes could be used as an effective super barcode for species identification or for developing other identification markers, which subsequently serves the conservation of Paphiopedilum species.


Author(s):  
Weiwen Wang ◽  
Robert Lanfear

Abstract The chloroplast genome usually has a quadripartite structure consisting of a large single copy region and a small single copy region separated by two long inverted repeats. It has been known for some time that a single cell may contain at least two structural haplotypes of this structure, which differ in the relative orientation of the single copy regions. However, the methods required to detect and measure the abundance of the structural haplotypes are labour-intensive, and this phenomenon remains understudied. Here we develop a new method, Cp-hap, to detect all possible structural haplotypes of chloroplast genomes of quadripartite structure using long-read sequencing data. We use this method to conduct a systematic analysis and quantification of chloroplast structural haplotypes in 61 land plant species across 19 orders of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes. Our results show that there are two chloroplast structural haplotypes which occur with equal frequency in most land plant individuals. Nevertheless, species whose chloroplast genomes lack inverted repeats or have short inverted repeats have just a single structural haplotype. We also show that the relative abundance of the two structural haplotypes remains constant across multiple samples from a single individual plant, suggesting that the process which maintains equal frequency of the two haplotypes operates rapidly, consistent with the hypothesis that flip-flop recombination mediates chloroplast structural heteroplasmy. Our results suggest that previous claims of differences in chloroplast genome structure between species may need to be revisited.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Yang ◽  
Xuezhu Liao ◽  
Lingxiao Yang ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Weixue Mu ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundChloroplast are believed to arise from a cyanobacterium through endosymbiosis and they played vital roles in photosynthesis, oxygen release and metabolites synthesis for the plant. With the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, until December 2018, about 3,654 complete chloroplast genome sequences have been made available. It is possible to compare the chloroplast genome structure to elucidate the evolutionary history of the green plants.ResultsWe compared the 3654 chloroplast genomes of the green plants and found extreme conservation of gene orders and gene blocks in the green plant such as ATP synthase cluster, Phytosystem, Cytochrome cluster, and Ribosomal cluster. For the chloroplast-based phylogenomics, we used three different data sets to recover the relationships within green plants which accounted for biased GC content and could mitigate the bias in molecular data sets by increasing taxon sampling. The main topology results include: I) Chlorokybales + Mesostigmatales as the earliest-branching lineage and a clade comprising Zygnematales+ Desmidiales formed a grade as the sister group to the land plants, II) Based on matrix AA data, Bryophytes was strongly supported as monophyletic but for matrix nt123 data, hornworts, mosses and liverworts were placed as successive sister lineages of Tracheophytes with strong support, III) Magnoliids were placed in the outside of Monocots using the matrix nt123 data and the matrix AA data, IV) Ceratophyllales + Chloranthales as sister to the Eudicots using matrix nt123 data, but when using matrix nt12 data and AA data, only Ceratophyllales sister to the Eudicots.ConclusionWe present the first of its kind large scale comparative analyses of the chloroplast coding gene constitution for 3654 green plants. Some important genes likely showed co-occurrence and formed gene cluster and gene blocks in Streptophyta. We found a clear expansion of IRs (Inverted Repeats) among seed plants. The comprehensive taxon sampling and different data sets recovered a strong relationship for green plants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 3262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongtan Li ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Longfei Li ◽  
Lijuan Gao ◽  
Jintao Xu ◽  
...  

Pyrus hopeiensis is a valuable wild resource of Pyrus in the Rosaceae. Due to its limited distribution and population decline, it has been listed as one of the “wild plants with a tiny population” in China. To date, few studies have been conducted on P. hopeiensis. This paper offers a systematic review of P. hopeiensis, providing a basis for the conservation and restoration of P. hopeiensis resources. In this study, the chloroplast genomes of two different genotypes of P. hopeiensis, P. ussuriensis Maxin. cv. Jingbaili, P. communis L. cv. Early Red Comice, and P. betulifolia were sequenced, compared and analyzed. The two P. hopeiensis genotypes showed a typical tetrad chloroplast genome, including a pair of inverted repeats encoding the same but opposite direction sequences, a large single copy (LSC) region, and a small single copy (SSC) region. The length of the chloroplast genome of P. hopeiensis HB-1 was 159,935 bp, 46 bp longer than that of the chloroplast genome of P. hopeiensis HB-2. The lengths of the SSC and IR regions of the two Pyrus genotypes were identical, with the only difference present in the LSC region. The GC content was only 0.02% higher in P. hopeiensis HB-1. The structure and size of the chloroplast genome, the gene species, gene number, and GC content of P. hopeiensis were similar to those of the other three Pyrus species. The IR boundary of the two genotypes of P. hopeiensis showed a similar degree of expansion. To determine the evolutionary history of P. hopeiensis within the genus Pyrus and the Rosaceae, 57 common protein-coding genes from 36 Rosaceae species were analyzed. The phylogenetic tree showed a close relationship between the genera Pyrus and Malus, and the relationship between P. hopeiensis HB-1 and P. hopeiensis HB-2 was the closest.


Author(s):  
Umar Rehman ◽  
Nighat Sultana ◽  
Abdullah . ◽  
Abbas Jamal ◽  
Maryam Muzaffar ◽  
...  

Family Phyllanthaceae is one of the largest segregates of the eudicot order Malpighiales and its species are herb, shrub, and tree, which are mostly distributed in tropical regions. Certain taxonomic discrepancies exist at genus and family level. Here, we report chloroplast genomes of three Phyllanthaceae species—Phyllanthus emblica, Flueggea virosa, and Leptopus cordifolius— and compare them with six others previously reported Phyllanthaceae chloroplast genomes. The species of Phyllanthaceae displayed quadripartite structure, comprising inverted repeat regions (IRa and IRb) that separate large single copy (LSC) and small single copy (SSC) regions. The length of complete chloroplast genome ranged from 154,707 bp to 161,093 bp; LSC from 83,627 bp to 89,932 bp; IRs from 23,921 bp to 27,128 bp; and SSC from 17,424 bp to 19,441 bp. Chloroplast genomes contained 111 to 112 unique genes, including 77 to 78 protein-coding, 30 transfer RNA (tRNA), and 4 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) that showed similarities in arrangement. The number of protein-coding genes varied due to deletion/pseudogenization of rps16 genes in Baccaurea ramiflora and Leptopus cordifolius. High variability was seen in number of oligonucleotide repeats while analysis of guanine-cytosine (GC) content, codon usage, amino acid frequency, simple sequence repeats analysis, synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions, and transition and transversion substitutions showed similarities in all Phyllanthaceae species. We detected a higher number of transition substitutions in the coding sequences than non-coding sequences. Moreover, the high number of transition substitutions was determined among the distantly related species in comparison to closely related species. Phylogenetic analysis shows the polyphyletic nature of the genus Phyllanthus which requires further verification. We also determined suitable polymorphic coding genes, including rpl22, ycf1, matK, ndhF, and rps15 which may be helpful for the reconstruction of the high-resolution phylogenetic tree of the family Phyllanthaceae using a large number of species in the future. Overall, the current study provides insight into chloroplast genome evolution in Phyllanthaceae.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Xu ◽  
Chen Liu ◽  
Yun Song ◽  
Mingfu Li

The genus Pennisetum (Poaceae) is both a forage crop and staple food crop in the tropics. In this study, we obtained chloroplast genome sequences of four species of Pennisetum (P. alopecuroides, P. clandestinum, P. glaucum, and P. polystachion) using Illumina sequencing. These chloroplast genomes have circular structures of 136,346–138,119 bp, including a large single-copy region (LSC, 79,380–81,186 bp), a small single-copy region (SSC, 12,212–12,409 bp), and a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs, 22,284–22,372 bp). The overall GC content of these chloroplast genomes was 38.6–38.7%. The complete chloroplast genomes contained 110 different genes, including 76 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Comparative analysis of nucleotide variability identified nine intergenic spacer regions (psbA-matK, matK-rps16, trnN-trnT, trnY-trnD-psbM, petN-trnC, rbcL-psaI, petA-psbJ, psbE-petL, and rpl32-trnL), which may be used as potential DNA barcodes in future species identification and evolutionary analysis of Pennisetum. The phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relationship between P. polystachion and P. glaucum, followed by P. clandestinum and P. alopecuroides. The completed genomes of this study will help facilitate future research on the phylogenetic relationships and evolution of Pennisetum species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongtan Li ◽  
Yan Dong ◽  
Yichao Liu ◽  
Xiaoyue Yu ◽  
Minsheng Yang ◽  
...  

In this study, we assembled and annotated the chloroplast (cp) genome of the Euonymus species Euonymus fortunei, Euonymus phellomanus, and Euonymus maackii, and performed a series of analyses to investigate gene structure, GC content, sequence alignment, and nucleic acid diversity, with the objectives of identifying positive selection genes and understanding evolutionary relationships. The results indicated that the Euonymus cp genome was 156,860–157,611bp in length and exhibited a typical circular tetrad structure. Similar to the majority of angiosperm chloroplast genomes, the results yielded a large single-copy region (LSC) (85,826–86,299bp) and a small single-copy region (SSC) (18,319–18,536bp), separated by a pair of sequences (IRA and IRB; 26,341–26,700bp) with the same encoding but in opposite directions. The chloroplast genome was annotated to 130–131 genes, including 85–86 protein coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes, with GC contents of 37.26–37.31%. The GC content was variable among regions and was highest in the inverted repeat (IR) region. The IR boundary of Euonymus happened expanding resulting that the rps19 entered into IR region and doubled completely. Such fluctuations at the border positions might be helpful in determining evolutionary relationships among Euonymus. The simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) of Euonymus species were composed primarily of single nucleotides (A)n and (T)n, and were mostly 10–12bp in length, with an obvious A/T bias. We identified several loci with suitable polymorphism with the potential use as molecular markers for inferring the phylogeny within the genus Euonymus. Signatures of positive selection were seen in rpoB protein encoding genes. Based on data from the whole chloroplast genome, common single copy genes, and the LSC, SSC, and IR regions, we constructed an evolutionary tree of Euonymus and related species, the results of which were consistent with traditional taxonomic classifications. It showed that E. fortunei sister to the Euonymus japonicus, whereby E. maackii appeared as sister to Euonymus hamiltonianus. Our study provides important genetic information to support further investigations into the phylogenetic development and adaptive evolution of Euonymus species.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Junjun Yao ◽  
Fangyu Zhao ◽  
Yuanjiang Xu ◽  
Kaihui Zhao ◽  
Hong Quan ◽  
...  

Dracocephalum tanguticum and Dracocephalum moldavica are important herbs from Lamiaceae and have great medicinal value. We used the Illumina sequencing technology to sequence the complete chloroplast genome of D. tanguticum and D. moldavica and then conducted de novo assembly. The two chloroplast genomes have a typical quadripartite structure, with the gene’s lengths of 82,221 bp and 81,450 bp, large single-copy region’s (LSC) lengths of 82,221 bp and 81,450 bp, and small single-copy region’s (SSC) lengths of 17,363 bp and 17,066 bp, inverted repeat region’s (IR) lengths of 51,370 bp and 51,352 bp, respectively. The GC content of the two chloroplast genomes was 37.80% and 37.83%, respectively. The chloroplast genomes of the two plants encode 133 and 132 genes, respectively, among which there are 88 and 87 protein-coding genes, respectively, as well as 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Among them, the rps2 gene is unique to D. tanguticum, which is not found in D. moldavica. Through SSR analysis, we also found 6 mutation hotspot regions, which can be used as molecular markers for taxonomic studies. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Dracocephalum was more closely related to Mentha.


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