Characterization of the chloroplast genome of Dalbergia latifolia (Fabaceae) and its phylogenetic relationship with other Dalbergia species

Abstract

Dalbergia latifolia Roxb. has high economic and ecological value owing to its durable timber characteristics. In the present study, a near complete chloroplast (Cp) genome of D. latifolia was assembled from leaf transcriptome data using reference‐based assembly. The Cp genome was 158 966 bp long and contained 116 genes, including 32 tRNAs, 4 rRNAs and 80 protein coding genes. Microsatellite analysis revealed the presence of 315 SSRs in the Cp genome. In a phylogenetic tree constructed using the complete Cp genomes of 27 species of Dalbergia, D. latifolia clustered with D. cochinchinensis and D. obtusifolia. The highly resolved tree grouped the species from Africa and South America and separated D. assamica and D. balansae as distinct species. Dalbergia barienesis, sometime considered a synonym of D. oliveri, was resolved as the sister of D. oliveri but showed significant divergence from D. barienesis. The newly generated Cp genome is a resource much needed to accelerate phylogenomic and evolutionary studies in D. latifolia. It will also facilitate development of super barcodes for timber forensics.