Development of chloroplast genomic resources for Akebia quinata (Lardizabalaceae)

Akebia quinata is an over-harvesting shrub which faces an urgent need for reasonable conservation strategies. In this study, we report its complete chloroplast genome by Illumina pair-end sequencing. The total cp genome size was 157,817 bp in length, containing a pair of inverted repeats of 26,143 bp, separated by large single copy and small single copy of 86,543 bp and 18,988 bp, respectively. The chloroplast genome of A. quinata encodes 113 different genes, including 79 protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNAs and 4 ribosomal RNAs. A total of 47 perfect cp microsatellites were analyzed in the A. quinata. The majority of the SSRs in this cp genome are mononucleotides (74.47 %). Regions of the highest variability were sought out by comparing with A. trifoliate. There are only 385 nucleotide substitutions and 141 indels between the two genomes. Six highly variable regions were identified including four intergenic regions and two coding regions.