Characterization of the Complete Chloroplast Genome and Phylogenetic Implications of Euonymus microcarpus (Oliv.) Sprague

Abstract

Euonymus microcarpus (Oliv.) Sprague, is a species of evergreen shrub of the genus Euonymus, family Celastraceae. Here, we extracted the genomic DNA from the leaves of E. microcarpus and constructed a paired-end library. The chloroplast genome of E. microcarpus was generated with the high-throughput sequencing by the illumina Hiseq X Ten platform and de novo assembly. The chloroplast genome had a quadripartite structure, containing a long single copy region with a size of 85,386 bp and a short single copy region with a size of 18,456 bp, separated by two inverted repeat regions of 26,850 bp. The chloroplast genome contained 133 genes identified in total, including 87 potential protein-coding genes, 38 transfer RNA genes, and eight ribosomal RNA genes. A total of 282 simple sequence repeats and 63 long repeats were found. Furthermore, the phylogenetic relationships inferred that E. microcarpus is sister to E. japonicus and E. schensianus. A comparison of the structure of the chloroplast genomes of eight Euonymus species suggests a nucleotide variability of the junction sites and a higher divergence of non-coding regions, compared to the coding regions. The original findings of the study serves as a good reference for chloroplast genome assembly and a valuable foundation for the genetic diversity and evolution of E. microcarpus.