Complete chloroplast genome sequence of Ilex latifolia (Aquifoliaceae), a traditional Chinese tea

Ilex latifolia (Aquifoliaceae), commonly known as ‘kudingcha’, is an evergreen tree widely distributed in southwest China. It is well known for its health function due to possess antioxidant, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and anti-ischemic activities. Here, we first report and characterize its complete chloroplast genome based on Illumina paired-end sequencing data. The complete plastid genome was 157,601 bp, which contained inverted repeats (IR) of 26,077 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 87,020 bp and 18,427 bp, respectively. The cpDNA contains 143 genes, comprising 95 protein-coding genes, 40 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The overall GC content of the plastome is 37.6%. The phylogenetic analysis of 18 selected chloroplast genomes demonstrated that I. latifolia is closely related to the congeneric I. integra.