The first complete chloroplast genome of Coptis quinquesecta, a critically endangered medicinal plant in China

Coptis quinquesecta, serving as a valuable medicinal plant, is a critically endangered and national key protected species of China. In the past, researches regarding this species mainly focused on its medicinal ingredients, whereas little effort has been made on its genetic information. Here we determined the first complete chloroplast genome of C. quinquesecta using genome skimming approach. The cp genome was 154,549 bp long, with a large single-copy region (LSC) of 84,409 bp and a small single-copy region (SSC) of 17,256 bp separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,442 bp. It encodes 113 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA genes, and four ribosomal RNA genes. Besides, we reconstructed the phylogeny of Ranunculaceae based on the previously reported cp genomes of related taxa. A maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis strongly supported the monophyly of Hydrastidoideae, Coptidoideae, and Thalictroideae, while Ranunculoideae was found to be paraphyletic.