The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Helicia shweliensis

Helicia shweliensis is a Critically Endangered species endemic to Yunnan, China. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) sequence of H. shweliensis was determined from Illumina HiSeq pair-end sequencing data. The cpDNA is 157,151 bp in length, contains a large single copy region (LSC) of 85,463 bp and a small single copy region (SSC) of 18,662 bp, which were separated by a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,513 bp. The genome contains 131 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 8 ribosomal RNA genes, and 37 transfer RNA genes. The overall GC content of the whole genome is 38.1% and the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 36.5, 31.8, and 42.9%, respectively. Further, phylogenomic analysis showed that V. paradoxa clustered in a unique clade in order Proteales.