The complete chloroplast genomes of three rare and endangered camellias (Camellia huana, C. liberofilamenta and C. luteoflora) endemic to Southwest China

Abstract

The genus Camellia (Ericales: Theaceae) comprises a group of plant species with high economic and phylogenetic values. Here, complete chloroplast (cp) genomes were reported for three rare and endangered Camellia species (Camellia huana, C. liberofilamenta and C. luteoflora) endemic to Southwest China, with their genome sizes being 156,903, 156,865 and 157,166 bp, respectively. The three cp genomes all comprise a pair of inverted repeat regions, separated by a large single-copy region and a small single-copy region, and encode the same set of 133 genes, including 88 protein coding genes (80 species), 37 tRNA genes (30 species) and 8 rRNA genes (4 species). And they have nearly identical asymmetrical base compositions (31.1% A, 31.6% T, 18.3% G and 19.0% C) with an overall A+T content of 62.7%. Phylogenetic analysis does not support the current section-level taxonomy of the genus Camellia, which thus may need revision.