AUTHOR=Wang Yu , Xu Jing , Hu Bin , Dong Chunxing , Sun Jin , Li Zixian , Ye Kangzhuo , Deng Fang , Wang Lulu , Aslam Mohammad , Lv Wenliang , Qin Yuan , Cheng Yan 

TITLE=Assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis of Ipomoea chloroplast genomes provide insights into the parasitic characteristics of Cuscuta species

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.1074697

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.1074697

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>In the <italic>Convolvulaceae</italic> family, around 1650 species belonging to 60 genera are widely distributed globally, mainly in the tropical and subtropical regions of America and Asia. Although a series of chloroplast genomes in <italic>Convolvulaceae</italic> were reported and investigated, the evolutionary and genetic relationships among the chloroplast genomes of the <italic>Convolvulaceae</italic> family have not been extensively elucidated till now. In this study, we first reported the complete chloroplast genome sequence of <italic>Ipomoea pes-caprae</italic>, a widely distributed coastal plant with medical values. The chloroplast genome of <italic>I. pes-caprae</italic> is 161667 bp in length, and the GC content is 37.56%. The chloroplastic DNA molecule of <italic>I. pes-caprae</italic> is a circular structure composed of LSC (large-single-copy), SSC (small-single-copy), and IR (inverted repeat) regions, with the size of the three regions being 88210 bp, 12117 bp, and 30670 bp, respectively. The chloroplast genome of <italic>I. pes-caprae</italic> contains 141 genes, and 35 SSRs are identified in the chloroplast genome. Our research results provide important genomic information for the molecular phylogeny of <italic>I. pes-caprae</italic>. The Phylogenetic analysis of 28 <italic>Convolvulaceae</italic> chloroplast genomes showed that the relationship of <italic>I. pes-caprae</italic> with <italic>I. involucrata</italic> or <italic>I. obscura</italic> was much closer than that with other <italic>Convolvulaccae</italic> species. Further comparative analyses between the <italic>Ipomoea</italic> species and <italic>Cuscuta</italic> species revealed the mechanism underlying the formation of parasitic characteristics of <italic>Cuscuta</italic> species from the perspective of the chloroplast genome.</p>