Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Impatiens alpicola (Balsaminaceae: Impatiens), a rare and endemic Chinese flowering plant

Abstract

Impatiens alpicola is a newly recorded rare and endemic flowering plant in China, which has been regarded as threatened due to its narrow distribution and human activity. In this study, its complete chloroplast genome was assembled from the whole genome Illumina sequencing data. The circular genome was 151,366 bp long, containing a large single copy (LSC) region of 82,245 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 17,705 bp, which were separated by a pair of 25,708 bp inverted repeat (IR) regions. It encoded a total of 128 genes, including 76 protein-coding genes, 44 tRNA genes and eight rRNA genes. The most of gene species occurred as a single copy, while 18 gene species occurred in double copies. The overall A + T content was 63.1%, while the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC and IR regions were 65.4, 70.6, and 56.9%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that I. alpicola was relatively close to another species (I. piufanensis) belonging to the same genus.