Background
Majority of the species within Senecioneae are classified in
Senecio
, making it the tribe’s largest genus. Certain intergeneric relationships within the tribe are vaguely defined, with the genus
Senecio
being partly linked to this ambiguity. Infrageneric relationships within
Senecio
remain largely unknown and consequently, the genus has undergone continuous expansion and contraction over the recent past due to addition and removal of taxa.
Dendrosenecio
, an endemic genus in Africa, is one of its segregate genera. To heighten the understanding of species divergence and phylogeny within the tribe, the complete chloroplast genomes of the first five
Senecio
and six
Dendrosenecio
species were sequenced and analyzed in this study.
Results
The entire length of the complete chloroplast genomes was ~ 150 kb and ~ 151 kb in
Dendrosenecio
and
Senecio
respectively. Characterization of the 11 chloroplast genomes revealed a significant degree of similarity particularly in their organization, gene content, repetitive sequence composition and patterns of codon usage. The chloroplast genomes encoded an equal number of unique genes out of which 80 were protein-coding genes, 30 transfer ribonucleic acid, and four ribosomal ribonucleic acid genes. Based on comparative sequence analyses, the level of divergence was lower in
Dendrosenecio
. A total of 331 and 340 microsatellites were detected in
Senecio
and
Dendrosenecio,
respectively. Out of which, 25 and five chloroplast microsatellites (cpSSR) were identified as potentially valuable molecular markers. Also, through whole chloroplast genome comparisons and DNA polymorphism tests, ten divergent hotspots were identified. Potential primers were designed creating genomic tools to further molecular studies within the tribe. Intergeneric relationships within the tribe were firmly resolved using genome-scale dataset in partitioned and unpartitioned schemes. Two main clades, corresponding to two subtribes within the Senecioneae, were formed with the genus
Ligularia
forming a single clade while the other had
Dendrosenecio, Pericallis, Senecio
and
Jacobaea
. A sister relationship was revealed between
Dendrosenecio
and
Pericallis
whereas
Senecio,
and
Jacobaea
were closely placed in a different clade.
Conclusion
Besides emphasizing on the potential of chloroplast genome data in resolving intergeneric relationships within Senecioneae, this study provides genomic resources to facilitate species identification and phylogenetic recon...