Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of the important herbal medicinal plant, Thymus quinquecostatus (Lamiaceae)

Abstract

Thymus quinquecostatus is the economically important plants and herbal resource of the Korean traditional medicine, belonging to the mint family (Lamiaceae, Labiatae). In this study, we determined the complete chloroplast genome sequence of T. quinquecostatus var. quinquecostatus using the Illumina MiSeq platform and reconstructed the phylogenetic tree of the selected Lamiaceae taxa. Results showed that the chloroplast genome of T. quinquecostatus var. quinquecostatus is 151,802 bp in size, with a large single-copy (LSC) region (82,921 bp), a small single-copy (SSC) region (17,669 bp), and two inverted repeat (IR) regions (IRa and IRb; 25,606 bp each). Additionally, the chloroplast genome contains 114 unique genes, including 80 protein-coding, four ribosomal RNA, and 30 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that T. quinquecostatus var. quinquecostatus is most closely related to genera Mentha-Clinopodium within the subfamily.