Complete plastid genome sequences of three tropical Alseodaphne trees in the family Lauraceae
AbstractAlseodaphneis a genus of timber trees (ca. 40 spp.) belonging to thePerseagroup of the Lauraceae. It is widely distributed in tropical Asia, but is often confused withDehaasiaandNothaphoebe, and the systematics of the genus is unclear. Here, the complete chloroplast genome sequences ofA. semecarpifoliawill be reported, the type species ofAlseodaphne, and two China-endemic species,A. gracilisandA. huanglianshanensis. The three plastomes were 153 051 bp, 153 099 bp and 153 070 bp, respectively. Comparative genomic analyses indicate that the threeAlseodaphneplastomes have similar genome size and those are very different with previously published plastomes of Lauraceae in length. The length difference is directly caused by inverted repeats expansion/contraction. Four highly variable loci includingpsbD-trnM,ndhF-rpl32,rpl32-trnLandycf1among the threeAlseodaphnespecies were identified as useful plastid candidate barcodes forAlseodaphneand Lauraceae species. Phylogenetic analyses based on 12 complete plastomes of Lauraceae species confirm a monophyleticPerseagroup comprising species ofAlseodaphne,Phoebe,PerseaandMachilus.