Complete plastome sequence of Atalantia kwangtungensis (Rutaceae): an endemic “near threatened” shrub in South China

Atalantia kwangtungensis (Rutaceae) is a small shrub (1–2 m tall) distributed in moist and shady places throughout evergreen broad-leaved forests having altitudes that range from 100 to 400 m in West Guangdong, Southeast Guangxi, Hainan province of China. It has been ranked as a near threatened (NT) species in China. Here, we report and characterize the complete plastid genome sequence of A. kwangtungensis in an effort to provide genomic resources useful for its conservation. The complete plastome is 160,248 bp in length and contains the typical structure and gene content of angiosperm plastomes, including two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 27,151 bp, a large single-copy (LSC) region of 87,483 bp and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,463 bp. The plastome contains 110 genes, consisting of 77 unique protein-coding genes (ycf1 is a pseudogene), 29 unique tRNA genes, and 4 unique rRNA genes. The overall A/T content in the plastome of A. kwangtungensis is 61.6%. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using the entire plastome, including spacers, introns, etc., and we determined that A. kwangtungensis and Merrillia caloxylon were closely related. The complete plastome sequence of A. kwangtungensis will provide a useful resource for the conservation genetics of this species as well as for the phylogenetic studies in Sapindales.