Open Access
ARTICLE
Structural characterization of four Rhododendron spp. chloroplast genomes and comparative analyses with other azaleas
XIAOJUN ZHOU1,*, MENGXUE LIU1, LINLIN SONG2
1 Life Science College, Luoyang Normal University, Luoyang, 471934, China
2 College of Life Science and Technology, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, 453003, China
* Corresponding Author: Xiaojun Zhou,
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Advances in Plant Cell Biology Research)
BIOCELL 2023, 47(3), 657-668. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2023.026781
Received 26 September 2022; Accepted 15 November 2022; Issue published 03 January 2023
Abstract
Azalea is a general designation of
Rhododendron in the Ericaceae family.
Rhododendron not only has high
ornamental value but also has application value in ecological protection, medicine, and scientific research. In this
study, we used Illumina and PacBio sequencing to assemble and annotate the entire chloroplast genomes (cp
genomes) of four
Rhododendron species. The chloroplast genomes of
R. concinnum,
R. henanense subsp.
lingbaoense,
R. micranthum, and
R. simsii were assembled into 207,236, 208,015, 207,233, and 206,912 bp, respectively. All
chloroplast genomes contain eight rRNA genes, with either 88 or 89 protein-coding genes. The four cp genomes were
compared and analyzed by bioinformatics, and the phylogenetic analysis based on chloroplast genomes of 26 species
of Ericaceae, Actinidiaceae, and Primulaceae under Ericales was conducted. A comparison of the linear structure of cp
genomes of four
Rhododendron showed that there were substantial sequence similarities in coding regions, but high
differences in non-coding regions. A phylogenetic analysis, based on chloroplast whole genome sequences, showed
that all
Rhododendron species are in the clade Ericaceae. This study provides valuable genetic information for the
study of population genetics and evolutionary relationships in
Rhododendron and other azalea species.
Keywords
Supplementary Material
Supplementary Material File
Cite This Article
ZHOU, X., LIU, M., SONG, L. (2023). Structural characterization of four
Rhododendron spp. chloroplast genomes and comparative analyses with other azaleas.
BIOCELL, 47(3), 657–668.