Complete chloroplast genome of Eleutherococcus divaricatus var. chiisanensis (Araliaceae), an endemic Korean species

Eleutherococcus Maxim. belongs to the family Araliaceae, with approximately40 species distributed in Eastern Asia and the Himalayan regions. Among these, Eleuthero-coccus divaricatus var. chiisanensis is distributed only in the central Korean Peninsula. Thecomplete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of Eleutherococcus divaricatus var. chiisanen-sis (Araliaceae) was determined to be 156,765 bp in length, consisting of large (86,592 bp)and small (18,239 bp) single-copy regions and a pair of identical inverted repeats (25,967bp). The overall GC content of the chloroplast genome was 37.9%, and in the large single-copy sequence, the small single-copy sequence, and each of inverted repeat sequences, thecontents were 36.2%, 32%, and 43%, respectively. The genome consists of 132 genes, madeup of 87 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. A cp genome phy-logenetic analysis of the 12 taxa inferred from the cp genome revealed a close relationshipbetween Eleutherococcus sessiliflorus and E. divaricatus var. chiisanensis. The complete cpgenome sequence of E. divaricatus var. chiisanensis provides important information forfuture phylogenetic and evolutionary studies of the genus Eleutherococcus