The complete chloroplast genome of Meconopsis bella Prain 1894 (Papaveraceae), a high-altitude plant distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Abstract

Meconopsis bella Prain 1894 (M. bella) is a rare herb within the family Papaveraceae of which unique and gorgeous purple flowers are blooming in the flowering phase. In this study, we reported the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of M. bella, which was mainly distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of M. bella was 153,073 bp in size and was characterized by a typical quadripartite structure consisting of a large single-copy (LSC) region of 83,562 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 178,33 bp and two identical inverted repeats (IR) regions of 25,839 bp. The genome contained 133 genes, including 88 protein-encoding genes, eight ribosomal RNA genes, and 37 transfer RNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the maximum-likelihood (ML) method showed that M. bella was closely related to M. paniculate and M. pinnatifolia within the genus Meconopsis.

Keywords: Meconopsis bella; Qinghai-Tibet plateau; chloroplast genome; papaveraceae.

Figure 1.

Plant image of Meconopsis bella. This species is characterized by a thick taproot with old petioles. There are no leaves on the stems, only the base. The basal leaves may be whole or lobed. The flowers are nodding, and grow singly on slender stems. This photo was taken by author Xinzhong Li at Gilon County in Sichuan Province, with the author’s approval for use. The plant was collected from Gilon County in Sichuan Province, and aerial parts of the plant, including young leaves, were captured in the photo.

Figure 2.

Chloroplast genome map of M. bella. Genes inside the circle are transcribed clockwise, while those outside are transcribed counterclockwise. Genes are color-coded according to functional groups. The dark pink region inside the inner circle indicates the GC content, while the green color indicates the at content of the cp genome. Boundaries of the small single copy (SSC) and large single copy (LSC) regions and inverted repeat (IRa and IRb) regions are denoted in the inner circle.

Figure 3.

Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of M. bella and other 29 plant species constructed using their shared 88 protein-coding nucleotide sequences of cp genomes. The best-fit model according to AIC: TVM + F + I + G4. The bootstrap support value for each node is shown on the branch. In the lower left corner of the diagram is placed an cladogram showing a clear topology without species names. The accession number of the cp genome of each plant species is shown in the brackets. The following sequences were used: Papaver rhoeas NC_037831 and Papaver Orientale NC_037832 (Zhou et al. 2018), M. racemosa NC_039625 (Zeng et al. 2018), M. horridula MK533646, M. integrifolia MK533647 (Li et al. 2019), M. pseudohorridula NC_061608 (unpublished), M. henrici NC_050877 and M. punicea NC_050878 (Zhu and Zhang 2019), M. simplicifolia NC_070211 (unpublished), M. betonicifolia OK349678 (unpublished), M. pinnatifolia OR521089 (unpublished), M. paniculata OR521090 (unpublished), M. integrifolia NC_061607 (unpublished), M. quintuplinervia NC_056996 (Xu et al. 2019), M. punicea MN488594 (unpublished), M. punicea MK533648 (unpublished), M. punicea MW233592 (Ruifang et al. 2021), M. punicea MN443952 (unpublished), M. racemose OL790391 (unpublished), M. pseudohorridula ON756033 (unpublished), M. pseudohorridula NC_061608 (unpublished), M. henrici MN488592 (unpublished), M. acemose var acemose NC_061609 (unpublished), M. racemose MK533649 (unpublished), M. horridula NC_056967 (unpublished), M. horridula MK533646 (Li et al. 2019), M. horridula OL790388 (unpublished), M. acemose NC_039625 (Zeng et al. 2018), M. racemose (MH394399-MH394402) (Zeng et al. 2018).