Abstract
Aconitum species (belonging to the Ranunculaceae) are well known herbaceous medicinal ingredients and have great economic value in Asian countries. However, there are still limited genomic resources available for Aconitum species. In this study, we sequenced the chloroplast (cp) genomes of two Aconitum species, A. coreanum and A. carmichaelii, using the MiSeq platform. The two Aconitum chloroplast genomes were 155,880 and 157,040 bp in length, respectively, and exhibited LSC and SSC regions separated by a pair of inverted repeat regions. Both cp genomes had 38% GC content and contained 131 unique functional genes including 86 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA genes, and 37 transfer RNA genes. The gene order, content, and orientation of the two Aconitum cp genomes exhibited the general structure of angiosperms, and were similar to those of other Aconitum species. Comparison of the cp genome structure and gene order with that of other Aconitum species revealed general contraction and expansion of the inverted repeat regions and single copy boundary regions. Divergent regions were also identified. In phylogenetic analysis, Aconitum species positon among the Ranunculaceae was determined with other family cp genomes in the Ranunculales. We obtained a barcoding target sequence in a divergent region, ndhC–trnV, and successfully developed a SCAR (sequence characterized amplified region) marker for discrimination of A. coreanum. Our results provide useful genetic information and a specific barcode for discrimination of Aconitum species.
Highlights
The genus Aconitum belongs to the Ranunculaceae and consists of approximately 400 species [1]
Complete chloroplast genome sequence of two Aconitum species Illumina sequencing of paired-end libraries revealed approximately 2.84 Gb of trimmed reads from A. carmichaelii and A. coreanum (S2 Table)
We confirmed by read mapping that the average read mapping depth was 206.52× in A. carmichaelii and 268.92× in A. coreanum (S1B Fig)
Summary
The genus Aconitum belongs to the Ranunculaceae and consists of approximately 400 species [1]. These grow in temperate regions and are well known herbaceous medicinal ingredients with great economic value in Asian countries. The dried root tubers of A. carmichaelii and A. coreanum have been used as different herbal medicines in Korea and China, namely, Aconiti Lateralis Radix (Bu-ja in Korean and Fu-zi in Chinese) and Aconiti Koreani Tuber Comparative analysis of complete chloroplast genomes of Aconitum species. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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