Chloroplast genome sequencing and comparative analysis of six
medicinal plants of Polygonatum
Jinchen Yao1, # | Zhaohuan
Zheng1, # | Tao Xu5| Duomei Wang2 | Jingzhe
Pu2 | Yazhong Zhang2*| Liangping Zha1, 3, 4*
1 College of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese
Medicine, Hefei, China
2 Anhui Institute for Food and Drug Control, Hefei,
China
3 Institute of Conservation and Development of
Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources, Anhui Academy of Chinese
Medicine, Hefei, China
4 MOE-Anhui Joint Collaborative Innovation Center for
Quality Improvement of Anhui Genuine Chinese Medicinal Materials, Hefei,
China
5 Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, West
Anhui University, Luan, China
# Authors Jinchen Yao and Zhaohuan Zheng contributed
equally to this work.
* Correspondence: Liangping Zha, Anhui University of Chinese
Medicine, Hefei 230012, China. Email:
zlp_ahtcm@126.com| Yazhong Zhang, Anhui Institute for Food and Drug
Control, Hefei 230051, China. Email:
282483507@qq.com
Funding information: Excellent Young Scholars Project of
Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province in China, Grant/Award
Numbers: 2208085Y30; Science Research Project at the Universities of
Anhui Province for Distinguished Young Scholars, Grant/Award Numbers:
2023AH020036; the Key Project Foundation of Support Program for the
Excellent Young Faculties in Universities of Anhui Province in China,
Grant/Award Numbers: gxyqZD2022051; Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship
Program by CACM, Grant/Award Numbers: CACM-2023-QNRC2-B23; NMPA Key
Laboratory for Quality Research and Evaluation of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, Grant/Award Numbers: AHYJ-KFKY-202102; the Fund of Generic
Technology Research center for Anhui Traditional Chinese Medicine
Industry, Grant/Award Numbers: AHTCMGTRC-2023-06; Traditional Chinese
Medicine high-level key discipline construction project of National
Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Science of Chinese
medicinal material resources (pharmaceutical botany), Grant/Award
Numbers: zyyzdxk-2023095; Scientific Research Team Program of Anhui
Colleges and Universities, Grant/Award Numbers: 2022AH010036.
Abstract
The genus Polygonatum boasts abundant germplasm resources and
comprises numerous species. Among these, medicinal plants of this genus,
which have a long history, have garnered attention of scholars. This
study sequenced and analyzed the chloroplast genomes of six species ofPolygonatum medicinal plants (P. zanlanscianense , P.
kingianum , P. sibiricum , P. cyrtonema , P. filipes and P. odoratum , respectively) to explore their inter-specific
relationships. The sequence length (154, 578–155, 807 bp) and genome
structure were conserved among the six Polygonatum species, with
a typical tetrad structure. The genomes contain 127–131 genes,
containing 84–85 protein-coding genes, 37–38 transfer RNA genes, and
6–8 ribosomal RNA genes. The genomes contained 64–76 simple sequence
repeats (SSRs) and 36–62 long repetitive sequences. Codon bias patterns
tended to use codons ending in A/T. In thirty types of codons with RSCU
> 1, 93.3% ended in A/T of the six species. Twenty-one
highly variable plastid regions were identified in the chloroplast
genomes of the six medicinal plants. In addition, phylogenetic analysis
of these and other 53 Polygonatum chloroplast genomes showed thatP. cyrtonema , P. odoratum and P. filipes were
clustered on one large clade, whereas P. kingianum and P.
zanlanscianense were clustered on other clades. P. sibiricum is
a monophyletic group and our tree supports the classification ofP. sibiricum as an independent clade. This study provides a novel
basis for intragenus taxonomy and DNA barcoding molecular identification
within the genus Polygonatum medicinal plants.
K E Y W O R D S: Polygonatum , chloroplast genome, interspecific
relationships, DNA barcoding molecular identification, phylogenetic