Extensive gene loss in the plastome of holoparasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa (Orobanchaceae)

Wanqi Xu; Haimei Chen; Lixia Tian; Mei Jiang; Qiaoqiao Yang; Liqiang Wang; Bashir Ahmad; LinFang Huang

doi:10.1080/23802359.2020.1787273

Extensive gene loss in the plastome of holoparasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa (Orobanchaceae)

Mitochondrial DNA B Resour. 2020 Jul 8;5(3):2679-2681. doi: 10.1080/23802359.2020.1787273.

Authors

Wanqi Xu¹, Haimei Chen¹, Lixia Tian¹, Mei Jiang¹, Qiaoqiao Yang¹, Liqiang Wang¹, Bashir Ahmad², LinFang Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Research Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources Protection from Ministry of Education, Engineering Research Center of Chinese Medicine Resource, National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
² Center for Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan.

Abstract

Extensive photosynthetic gene loss and rapid evolutionary rate occur in the plastomes of parasitic plants. The holoparasitic plant Cistanche tubulosa of Orobanchaceae is an important medicinal resources that are distributed in arid areas. In this study, the complete plastome of C. tubulosa has been sequenced, assembled and analyzed. The total plastome of C. tubulosa was 75,375 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeats (IRs, 6,593 bp), a large single-copy region (LSC, 32,470 bp) and a small single-copy region (SSC, 29,719 bp). It contained 24 intact protein coding genes, nine pseudogenes, and 44 missing genes. In addition, all the protein-coding genes, which were related to photosynthesis and energy production, were pseudogenised or lost. Four rRNA genes and 24 tRNA genes were intact meanwhile five tRNA genes were missing. Phylogenetic tree indicated that C. tubulosa was closely related to C. phelypaea. Our results may improve understanding of the plastome organization, classification, and evolution of parasitic plants.

Keywords: Cistanche tubulosa; gene loss; holoparasitic plant; phylogenetic analysis; plastome.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [81473315, U1812403-1-1], National Science & Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China [2018FY100701] and CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences [2016-I2M-3-015], which are gratefully acknowledged.