The complete chloroplast genome of Musa acuminata var. chinensis

Abstract

Musa acuminata var. chinensis is one of the most important wild banana species native to China which has huge potential breeding value by its cold tolerance and disease resistance. In this study, we first reported the complete chloroplast genome of M. acuminata var. chinensis and explore its phylogenetic position using a maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. The chloroplast genome of M. acuminata var. chinensis is 170,402 bp in length and the overall GC content of the whole genome is 36.8%. It consisting of a pair of inverted repeat (IR, 35,320 bp) regions, a large single-copy (LSC, 88,870 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC, 10,900 bp). The chloroplast genome contained 112 genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 29 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA ribosomal genes. The most genes occur as a single copy, while 23 gene species occur in double copies. Phylogenetic analysis of 7 selected chloroplast genomes revealed that M. acuminata var. chinensis was closely related to M. acuminata ssp. malaccensis. The complete chloroplast genome of M. acuminata var. chinensis will greatly enhance precious gene resources for banana breeding programs in the future.

Keywords: Illumina sequencing; M. acuminata var. chinensis; chloroplast genome; phylogenetic analysis.