The complete chloroplast genome of three Syzygium species (Myrtaceae) and their phylogenetic relationships

Syzygium cinereum (Kurz) Chantar. & J.Parn. (1993), Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels (1912), and Syzygium grande (Wight) Walp. (1843) have different usages by humans as foods or medicines in the Southeast Asia regions. In this study, we assembled and characterized the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of three Syzygium species. The complete cp genomes of S. cinereum, S. cumini and S. grande were 158,956 bp, 158,448 bp, and 159,061 bp in length, respectively, with the overall GC content of 37.0%. All three Syzygium cp genomes consisted of 130 genes in total (including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA genes). A phylogenetic tree based on cp protein-coding regions revealed the monophyly of Syzygium species and provided valuable insights into the phylogenetic relationships of three of our Syzygium species with other Myrtaceae species. The sequencing of this cp stands to expedite the development of molecular markers and significantly contribute to genetic research involving this distinctive plant.