The complete chloroplast genome sequences and phylogenetics of Cornus sanguinea L. and Cornus sericea L. (Cornaceae)

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the chloroplast genomes of two Cornus species, Cornus sanguinea L. and Cornus sericea L., which are significant both in ornamental horticulture and traditional medicine. These species were collected from the Botanical Garden of the VILAR, providing a unique geographic context for genetic examination. Our results indicated that the plastomes of both species have typical quadripartite structure of chloroplast DNA, with slight variations in the size of the Large Single Copy (LSC) and Small Single Copy (SSC) regions compared to other Cornus species. The complete chloroplast genome size of C. sericea and C. sanguinea was 158 244 and 158 663 bp, respectively. A total of 131 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes were found. The study highlighted the role of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in genomic differentiation, with a notable absence of tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide repeats in the studied genomes. This aspect of the genome could be vital for understanding species differentiation and evolution within the genus. Phylogenetic analyses placed C. sanguinea and C. sericea within a broader clade of Cornaceae and reflected their close relationship to other species in the Cornaceae family. Overall, our study provides new data about the structure and features of the C. sericea cp genome and adds the valuable information on cp genome C. sanguinea , that is necessary for further studies.