Abstract
Magnolia grandiflora is an important medicinal, ornamental and horticultural plant species. The chloroplast (cp) genome of M. grandiflora was sequenced using a 454 sequencing platform and the genome structure was compared with other related species. The complete cp genome of M. grandiflora was 159623 bp in length and contained a pair of inverted repeats (IR) of 26563 bp separated by large and small single copy (LSC, SSC) regions of 87757 and 18740 bp, respectively. A total of 129 genes were successfully annotated, 18 of which included introns. The identity, number and GC content of M. grandiflora cp genes were similar to those of other Magnoliaceae species genomes. Analysis revealed 218 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci, most composed of A or T, contributing to a bias in base composition. The types and abundances of repeat units in Magnoliaceae species were relatively conserved and these loci will be useful for developing M. grandiflora cp genome vectors. In addition, results indicated that the cp genome size in Magnoliaceae species and the position of the IR border were closely related to the length of the ycf1 gene. Phylogenetic analyses based on 66 shared genes from 30 species using maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods provided strong support for the phylogenetic position of Magnolia. The availability of the complete cp genome sequence of M. grandiflora provides valuable information for breeding of desirable varieties, cp genetic engineering, developing useful molecular markers and phylogenetic analyses in Magnoliaceae.
Highlights
The chloroplast is an important semiautonomous organelle for plant photosynthesis, and is inherited in a maternal manner
No.2 polymorpha [4] were first sequenced in 1986, cp genomes have been widely used in cp genetic engineering, for developing useful molecular markers and for phylogenetic analyses [5–7]
Seven tRNAs and all rRNAs were located in inverted repeats (IR) regions
Summary
The chloroplast (cp) is an important semiautonomous organelle for plant photosynthesis, and is inherited in a maternal manner. Recent studies of M. grandiflora have focused on tissue culture, chemical composition and pharmacological effects [16–18], but research has failed to solve many issues such as the long growth period, low resistance to diseases, classification and conservation of biodiversity. These problems would be expected to be solved by cp genetic engineering and phylogenetic analysis. The complete genome sequence provides valuable genetic information for studies on photosynthetic mechanisms, cultivating new varieties with strong resistance to cold and insect damage, exploring phylogenetic relationships between species of Magnoliaceae, and can offer basic knowledge for the cp genetic engineering of M. grandiflora
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
