The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Populus rotundifolia, and a comparative analysis with other Populus species

Populus rotundifolia, which is an endemic of the Himilayas and adjacent regions, is the species that occupy the highest habitat in the Populus genus. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Populus rotundifolia was characterized from Illumina pair-end sequencing. The chloroplast genome of P. rotundifolia was 155,212 bp in length, containing a large single-copy region (LSC) of 84,545 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 16,859 bp, and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,904 bp. The overall GC content is 36.80%, while the correponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 34.5%, 30.5%, and 42.3%, respectively. The genome contains 131 complete genes, including 86 protein-coding genes (62 protein-coding gene species), 37 tRNA genes (29 tRNA species) and 8 rRNA genes (4 rRNA species). The Neighbour-joining phylogenetic analysis showed that P. rotundifolia and Populus davidiana clustered together as sisters to other Populus species.