The complete chloroplast genome of Gleditsia sinensis and Gleditsia japonica: genome organization, comparative analysis, and development of taxon specific DNA mini-barcodes

Chloroplast genomes have been widely considered an informative and valuable resource for molecular marker development and phylogenetic reconstruction in plant species. This study evaluated the complete chloroplast genomes of the traditional Chinese medicine Gleditsia sinensis and G. japonica, an adulterant of the former. The complete chloroplast genomes of G. sinensis and G. japonica were found to be of sizes 163,175 bp and 162,391 bp, respectively. A total of 111 genes were identified in each chloroplast genome, including 77 coding sequences, 30 tRNA, and 4 rRNA genes. Comparative analysis demonstrated that the chloroplast genomes of these two species were highly conserved in genome size, GC contents, and gene organization. Additionally, nucleotide diversity analysis of the two chloroplast genomes revealed that the two short regions of ycf1b were highly diverse, and could be treated as mini-barcode candidate regions. The mini-barcode of primers ZJ818F-1038R was proven to precisely discriminate between these two species and reflect their biomass ratio accurately. Overall, the findings of our study will shed light on the genetic evolution and guide species identification of G. sinensis and G. japonica.