Tiantian Yan¹ , Honglin Wang^{1, 2} , Degang Zhao^{1, 2}

1 National-local Joint Engineering Research Center of Karst Region Plant Resources Utilization & Breeding (Guizhou), College of Life Sciences/Institute of AgroBioengineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
2 Plant Conservation & Breeding Technology Center, Guizhou Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biotechnology / Guizhou Institute of Pomology Science, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, 550006, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Evolution and Biodiversity, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 5   
Received: 09 Aug., 2024    Accepted: 17 Sep., 2024    Published: 25 Sep., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Eucommia ulmoides is a Tertiary relic plant endemic to China, possessing significant medicinal and industrial value. Due to the scarcity of genomic data, studies on the population genetics and genomics of E. ulmoides remain limited. This study reveals the structural organization and sequence variation of the chloroplast genome of E. ulmoides by comparing complete chloroplast genome sequences. The findings show that most single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are located in gene regions, while insertions/deletions (indels) are primarily concentrated in intergenic spacers. Additionally, the study explores the phylogenetic relationships between E. ulmoides and related species based on chloroplast genome data. The results indicate that the chloroplast genome of E. ulmoides exhibits significant heterogeneous divergence patterns, with all coding-region SNPs being synonymous mutations, thereby not affecting protein function. This discovery provides important molecular markers for the conservation and breeding programs of E. ulmoides and enhances our understanding of plant evolution and genetic diversity. Future research will further investigate the impact of environmental factors on chloroplast genome variation and expression, promoting the conservation and sustainable utilization of E. ulmoides.

Eucommia ulmoides; Chloroplast genome; Divergence patterns; Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); Phylogenetic analysis; Genetic diversity