Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Chlorophytum comosum and Chlorophytum gallabatense: Genome Structures, Comparative and Phylogenetic Analysis.

Jacinta N Munyao,Jia-Xin Yang,Guang-Wan Hu,Millicent A Oulo,Paul M Musili,Vincent O Wanga,Xiang Dong,Josphat K Saina,Elijah M Mbandi

doi:10.3390/plants9030296

Abstract

The genus Chlorophytum includes many economically important species well-known for medicinal, ornamental, and horticultural values. However, to date, few molecular genomic resources have been reported for this genus. Therefore, there is limited knowledge of phylogenetic studies, and the available chloroplast (cp) genome of Chlorophytum (C. rhizopendulum) does not provide enough information on this genus. In this study, we present genomic resources for C. comosum and C. gallabatense, which had lengths of 154,248 and 154,154 base pairs (bp), respectively. They had a pair of inverted repeats (IRa and IRb) of 26,114 and 26,254 bp each in size, separating the large single-copy (LSC) region of 84,004 and 83,686 bp from the small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,016 and 17,960 bp in C. comosum and C. gallabatense, respectively. There were 112 distinct genes in each cp genome, which were comprised of 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. The comparative analysis with five other selected species displayed a generally high level of sequence resemblance in structural organization, gene content, and arrangement. Additionally, the phylogenetic analysis confirmed the previous phylogeny and produced a phylogenetic tree with similar topology. It showed that the Chlorophytum species (C. comosum, C. gallabatense and C. rhizopendulum) were clustered together in the same clade with a closer relationship than other plants to the Anthericum ramosum. This research, therefore, presents valuable records for further molecular evolutionary and phylogenetic studies which help to fill the gap in genomic resources and resolve the taxonomic complexes of the genus.

Highlights

Chlorophytum Ker-Gawl. is a large and taxonomically complex genus [1], distributed in the OldWorld tropics, in Africa, Australia, Asia, Madagascar, and India [2,3], that comprises about 215 species, six subspecies, and 14 varieties [4,5] in the subfamily Agavoideae in the Asparagaceae family [6]
We detected a total of 112 unique genes in C. comosum and C. gallabatense cp genomes, which included 78 protein-coding genes (PCGs), four ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and 30 transfer RNAs genes (tRNAs) genes (Table 1)
19 genes are replicated in the inverted repeat regions (IRs) regions, comprising seven PCGs, four rRNA genes, and eight tRNA genes (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Is a large and taxonomically complex genus [1], distributed in the Old. World tropics, in Africa (possibly the center of origin), Australia, Asia, Madagascar, and India [2,3], that comprises about 215 species, six subspecies, and 14 varieties [4,5] in the subfamily Agavoideae in the Asparagaceae family [6]. The genus is well-known for its medicinal characteristics [8] It has attracted the attention of scientists due to pharmacologically relevant steroidal and triterpenoidal saponin contents in their roots [9]. Some of the species are cultivated for their ornamental values such as C. comosum and C. filipendulum subsp. amaniense, and are effective in controlling soil erosion [1]

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