The complete chloroplast genome of Cucumis anguria var. anguria (Cucurbitaceae) and its phylogenetic implication

The genus Cucumis contains 52 species, including two economically significant crops, cucumber and melon, as well as other important species. Cucumis anguria var. anguria is a wild relative of C. melon, native to Africa. Cucumis anguria is rich in vitamins and minerals in gherkin fruits and carries broad-spectrum resistance to multiplex biotic and abiotic stress, such as powdery mildew, fusarium wilt, and meloidogyn incognita. Cucumis anguria provides a valuable gene pool for crop improvement of Cucumis crops. In this study, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of C. anguria was determined using next-generation sequencing. The entire cp genome was determined to be 156,577 bp in length. It contained large single-copy (LSC) and small single-copy (SSC) regions of 85,971 and 18,100 bp, respectively, which were separated by a pair of 26,253 bp inverted repeat (IR) regions. The genome contained 134 genes, including 88 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes and 1 pseudogene infA. The overall GC content of the genome is 37.0%. A phylogenetic tree reconstructed by 48 chloroplast genomes reveals that C. anguria is a separate branch in Cucumis.