Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Begonia handelii

Begonia is the fifth largest genus of angiosperms in the world, and Begonia handelii is a member of the Begonia(Begoniaceae), and is one of the few species with floral fragrance in this genus. However, the chloroplast genome structure and phylogenetic relationship of this species is still unclear. In this study, the chloroplast genome of B. handelii was sequenced by Illumina HiSeq X platform, and the phylogenetic relationship of this species in Begonia was analyzed with related species. The whole chloroplast genome of B. handelii is 169,406 bp in size, which consist one large single-copy region (LSC) with 95,403 bp, one small single-copy region (SSC) with 20,089 bp, and two inverted repeat regions (IR) with 26,957 bp. The GC content of this chloroplast genome is 35.6%. Moreover, 140 genes were found in the chloroplast of B. handelii, including 90 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, 42 tRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that B. handelii is closed to B. coptidifolia and B. pulchrifolia. This study lays the foundation for further research on the chloroplast genome evolution of B. handelii chloroplasts.