Background
The
Synotis
(C. B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey & Y. L. Chen is an ecologically important genus of the tribe Senecioneae, family Asteraceae. Because most species of the genus bear similar morphology, traditional morphological identification methods are very difficult to discriminate them. Therefore, it is essential to develop a reliable and effective identification method for
Synotis
species. In this study, the complete chloroplast (cp.) genomes of four
Synotis
species,
S. cavaleriei
(H.Lév.) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen,
S. duclouxii
(Dunn) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen,
S. nagensium
(C.B. Clarke) C. Jeffrey & Y.L. Chen and
S. erythropappa
(Bureau & Franch.) C. Jeffrey & Y. L. Chen had been sequenced using next-generation sequencing technology and reported here.
Results
These four cp. genomes exhibited a typical quadripartite structure and contained the large single-copy regions (LSC, 83,288 to 83,399 bp), the small single-copy regions (SSC, 18,262 to 18,287 bp), and the inverted repeat regions (IR, 24,837 to 24,842 bp). Each of the four cp. genomes encoded 134 genes, including 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 2 pseudogenes (
ycf1
and
rps19
). The highly variable regions (
trnC-GCA-petN
,
ccsA-psaC
,
trnE-UUC-rpoB
,
ycf1
,
ccsA
and
petN
) may be used as potential molecular barcodes. The complete cp. genomes sequence of
Synotis
could be used as the potentially effective super-barcode to accurately identify
Synotis
species. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the four
Synotis
species were clustered into a monophyletic group, and they were closed to the
Senecio
,
Crassocephalum
and
Dendrosenecio
in tribe Senecioneae.
Conclusions
This study will be useful for further species identification, evolution, genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies within this genus
Synotis
and the tribe Senecioneae.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-024-10663-x.