Complete chloroplast genome of a high-quality forage in north China, Medicago ruthenica (Fabaceae：Trifolieae)

Jiuxiang Xie; Junping Mao; Zongren Li; Chengbo Liang; Weiyou Ou; Junwei Tang; Hua Liu; Haichun Wang; Zhongke Ji; Kazhuocairang; Yingfang Shen

doi:10.1080/23802359.2020.1845578

Complete chloroplast genome of a high-quality forage in north China, Medicago ruthenica (Fabaceae：Trifolieae)

Mitochondrial DNA B Resour. 2021 Jan 5;6(1):29-30. doi: 10.1080/23802359.2020.1845578.

Authors

Jiuxiang Xie¹, Junping Mao², Zongren Li¹, Chengbo Liang¹, Weiyou Ou³, Junwei Tang³, Hua Liu³, Haichun Wang³, Zhongke Ji⁴, Kazhuocairang⁵, Yingfang Shen⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining, China.
² Bureau of Natural Resources of Guinan County, Mangqu, China.
³ Qinghai Provincial General Grassland Station, Xining, China.
⁴ Forest station of Youganning Town, Henan Mongolian Autonomous County, Youganning, China.
⁵ Grassland Comprehensive Professional Team of Henan Mongolian Autonomous County, Youganning, China.
⁶ College of Ecological Environment and Resources, Qinghai Nationalities University, Xining, Qinghai, China.

Abstract

Medicago ruthenica is a well-known high-quality forage due to its good palatability and strong tolerance to drought, cold and saline-alkali stress. Here, the complete chloroplast genome sequence of M. ruthenica was reported. The chloroplast genome is 126,939 bp in length. This chloroplast genome has no inverted repeat (IR) regions, which is very common in the family Fabaceae. The M. ruthenica chloroplast genome encodes 107 genes, including 73 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis result strongly suggested that M. ruthenica is a distinct lineage in Medicago, being sister to highly supported clade composed of three species (M. hybrida, M. papillosa and M. sativa).

Keywords: Fabaceae; Medicago ruthenica; chloroplast genome; phylogenetic analysis.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Qinghai Province [2017-ZJ-706], National Natural Science Foundation of China [31760622], National International Science and Technology Cooperation Special Project [2015DFG31870].