Complete assembly of the chloroplast genome of Amorphophallus coaetaneus S. Y. Liu & S. J. Wei 1986 (Araceae) from southwestern China

Amorphophallus coaetaneus S. Y. Liu & S. J. Wei 1986 is a perennial herb belonging to the Araceae family in southwestern China (Guangxi and Yunnan provinces). Although this species have not been list in the red list of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the populations are declining due to human over exploitation. To help to genetic diversity studies, we sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of A. coaetaneus (GenBank accession number of national center for biotechnology information (NCBI): OQ404947). The assembled genome revealed 175,465 bp in length with a GC content of 34.90%, including a large single-copy (LSC) region (98,561 bp), a small single-copy (SSC) region (16,504 bp) and two inverted repeat regions (IRs) (30,200 bp each). A total of 133 genes were annotated, of which 85 are protein-coding genes, 40 are tRNA genes and 8 are rRNA genes. As an output of this study, a maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic inference of 16 Araceae species clustered all four Amorphophallus species in one clade, and showed a relatively close relationship between the tribes Pythonieae and Colocasieae. The cp genome will serve as a basis in a more extensive molecular works covering all possible extant population of Amorphophallus, as well as conservation, breeding, and other ethnobotanical utilization of this species.