Comparative Analysis of SixLagerstroemiaComplete Chloroplast Genomes.
Crape myrtles are economically important ornamental trees of the genusLagerstroemia L. (Lythraceae), with a distribution from tropical to northern temperate zones. They are positioned phylogenetically to a large subclade of rosids (in the eudicots) which contain more than 25% of all the angiosperms. They commonly bloom from summer till fall and are of significant value in city landscape and environmental protection. Morphological traits are shared inter-specifically among plants ofLagerstroemiato certain extent and are also influenced by environmental conditions and different developmental stages. Thus, classification of plants inLagerstroemiaat species and cultivar levels is still a challenging task. Chloroplast (cp) genome sequences have been proven to be an informative and valuable source of cp DNA markers for genetic diversity evaluation. In this study, the complete cp genomes of threeLagerstroemiaspecies were newly sequenced, and three other published cp genome sequences ofLagerstroemiawere retrieved for comparative analyses in order to obtain an upgraded understanding of the application value of genetic information from the cp genomes. The six cp genomes ranged from 152,049 bp (L. subcostata) to 152,526 bp (L. speciosa) in length. We analyzed nucleotide substitutions, insertions/deletions, and simple sequence repeats in the cp genomes, and discovered 12 relatively highly variable regions that will potentially provide plastid markers for further taxonomic, phylogenetic, and population genetics studies inLagerstroemia. The phylogenetic relationships of theLagerstroemiataxa inferred from the datasets from the cp genomes obtained high support, indicating that cp genome data may be useful in resolving relationships in this genus.
State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing, China.
Chao
C
Xu
Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University Beijing, China.
Wenpan
W
Dong
Shandong Provincial Center of Forest Tree Germplasm Resources Jinan, China.
Wenqing
W
Li
Shandong Provincial Center of Forest Tree Germplasm Resources Jinan, China.
Yizeng
Y
Lu
Shandong Provincial Center of Forest Tree Germplasm Resources Jinan, China.
Xiaoman
X
Xie
Beijing Botanical Garden, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China.
Xiaobai
X
Jin
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Mengla, China.
Jipu
J
Shi
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences Mengla, China.
Kaihong
K
He
State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China.
Zhili
Z
Suo
Lagerstroemia; chloroplast genome; comparative genomics; phylogeny; plastid marker; sequence divergence; simple repeat sequence