AUTHOR=Zhang Zhonglian , Zhang Yue , Song Meifang , Guan Yanhong , Ma Xiaojun 

TITLE=Species Identification of Dracaena Using the Complete Chloroplast Genome as a Super-Barcode

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2019.01441

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2019.01441

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p>The taxonomy and nomenclature of <italic>Dracaena</italic> plants are much disputed, particularly for several <italic>Dracaena</italic> species in Asia. However, neither morphological features nor common DNA regions are ideal for identification of <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp. Meanwhile, although multiple <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp. are sources of the rare traditional medicine dragon’s blood, the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China has defined <italic>Dracaena cochinchinensis</italic> as the only source plant. The inaccurate identification of <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp. will inevitably affect the clinical efficacy of dragon’s blood. It is therefore important to find a better method to distinguish these species. Here, we report the complete chloroplast (CP) genomes of six <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp., <italic>D. cochinchinensis</italic>, <italic>D. cambodiana</italic>, <italic>D. angustifolia</italic>, <italic>D. terniflora</italic>, <italic>D. hokouensis</italic>, and <italic>D. elliptica</italic>, obtained through high-throughput Illumina sequencing. These CP genomes exhibited typical circular tetramerous structure, and their sizes ranged from 155,055 (<italic>D. elliptica</italic>) to 155,449 bp (<italic>D. cochinchinensis</italic>). The GC content of each CP genome was 37.5%. Furthermore, each CP genome contained 130 genes, including 84 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. There were no potential coding or non-coding regions to distinguish these six species, but the maximum likelihood tree of the six <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp. and other related species revealed that the whole CP genome can be used as a super-barcode to identify these <italic>Dracaena</italic> spp. This study provides not only invaluable data for species identification and safe medical application of <italic>Dracaena</italic> but also an important reference and foundation for species identification and phylogeny of Liliaceae plants.</p>