Complete Chloroplast Genome of Argania spinosa: Structural Organization and Phylogenetic Relationships in Sapotaceae

Abstract

Argania spinosa (Sapotaceae), an important endemic Moroccan oil tree, is a primary source of argan oil, which has numerous dietary and medicinal proprieties. The plant species occupies the mid-western part of Morocco and provides great environmental and socioeconomic benefits. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome of A. spinosa was sequenced, assembled, and analyzed in comparison with those of two Sapotaceae members. The A. spinosa cp genome is 158,848 bp long, with an average GC content of 36.8%. The cp genome exhibits a typical quadripartite and circular structure consisting of a pair of inverted regions (IR) of 25,945 bp in length separating small single-copy (SSC) and large single-copy (LSC) regions of 18,591 and 88,367 bp, respectively. The annotation of A. spinosa cp genome predicted 130 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes (CDS), 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes. A total of 44 long repeats and 88 simple sequence repeats (SSR) divided into mononucleotides (76), dinucleotides (7), trinucleotides (3), tetranucleotides (1), and hexanucleotides (1) were identified in the A. spinosa cp genome. Phylogenetic analyses using the maximum likelihood (ML) method were performed based on 69 protein-coding genes from 11 species of Ericales. The results confirmed the close position of A. spinosa to the Sideroxylon genus, supporting the revisiting of its taxonomic status. The complete chloroplast genome sequence will be valuable for further studies on the conservation and breeding of this medicinally and culinary important species and also contribute to clarifying the phylogenetic position of the species within Sapotaceae.

Comparative Genomics and Phylogenetic Relationships of Two Endemic and Endangered Species (Handeliodendron Bodinieri and Eurycorymbus Cavaleriei) of two Monotypic Genera within Sapindales

“…The mVISTA results revealed that coding regions were more conserved than the non-coding regions, and the SSC and LSC regions exhibited more variation than IR regions in all cp genomes. The results of this study are consistent with previous nings in other species [29,73,74,91]. In total, we identi ed ve genes present signi cant variations in these cp genomes, such as matK, accD, ycf1, ndhF, and rpl22.…”

Morphological and genomic evidence for a new species of Corallorhiza (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae) from SW China

“…The complete plastome of C. sinensis was sequenced, assembled, and analyzed in comparison with these members of subtribe Calypsoinae. The plastome of C. sinensis shows a typical quadripartite structure, as reported for most angiosperms ( Khayi et al., 2020 ; Wu et al., 2020 ; Zhu et al., 2020 ). A total of 109 unique genes were identified in the plastome, which contains 68 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and four rRNAs.…”

Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Acanthochlamys bracteata (China) and Xerophyta (Africa) (Velloziaceae): Comparative Genomics and Phylogenomic Placement

“…The distance between psbA and the JLA junction varies from 111 bp to 117 bp. Inverted repeat regions in land plants’ cp genomes vary greatly ( Khayi et al, 2020 ). However, studies show that they are the most conserved regions of the chloroplast genome ( Asaf et al, 2020 ).…”