The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Melochia corchorifolia Linnaeus, 1753 (Sterculiaceae)

Abstract

Melochia corchorifolia Linnaeus, 1753, is a weedy tropical plant of the Sterculiaceae family and has medicinal value. We sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of M. corchorifolia using Illumina high-throughput sequencing and examined phylogenetic relationships with closely related species. The assembled chloroplast genome of M. corchorifolia was 163,693 bp long and contained a pair of inverted repeats of 29,729 bp, separated by a large single-copy sequence of 84,350 bp and a small single-copy region of 19,885 bp. A total of 136 genes were annotated across the entire chloroplast genome, including 37 transfer RNA, 8 ribosomal RNA, and 91 protein-coding genes. The GC content of the complete cp genome was 37.27%. The phylogenetic tree indicated that M. corchorifolia is closely related to Melochia pyramidata (Malvaceae). These results would provide useful information for future phylogenetic, taxonomic, and evolutionary studies on Sterculiaceae and Malvaceae.

Keywords: Melochia corchorifolia Linn; Sterculiaceae; chloroplast genome; phylogenetic analysis.