Characterization of chloroplast genome of Eleusine coracana, a highly adaptable cereal crop with high nutritional reputation

Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn. is a kind of highly adaptable cereal crop with a high nutritional value with the reputation of ‘black pearl’. In this study, we sequenced, assembled and characterized the complete chloroplast genome of the grass species. The circular genome of E. coracana was 135,137 bp in length, which comprised two inverted repeat (IRa and IRb) regions of 20,919 bp in length separated by a large single copy (LSC) region of 80,663 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 12,636 bp. The total GC content of the E. coracana chloroplast genome was ∼38.13%. A total of 108 functional genes were predicted, including 76 protein-coding genes, 28 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. Our phylogenomic analysis of all protein-coding genes further revealed that E. coracana is closely related to Bouteloua curtipendula and B. gracilis, and they are together positioned in the subfamily Chloridoideae clade of the grass family.