Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Oxyria sinensis

In this study, the whole chloroplast genome of Oxyria sinensis is determined by using re-sequencing reads and de novo assembly. The genome size of O. sinensis is 160,404 bp in length. The genome comprises a large single copy region of 83.5 K bp and a small single copy region of 12.8 K bp, which were separated by a pair of 30,885 bp inverted repeat regions. The complete chloroplast genome contained 131 genes, including 83 protein-coding genes (83 PCG species), 37 tRNA genes (28 tRNA species), 8 ribosomal RNA genes (4 rRNA species) and 3 pseudogenes. Based on Bayesian dating analysis, O. sinensis diverged from its relative species Rheum palmtuam 27 million years ago. The whole chloroplast genome is useful for plant evolutionary and genomic studies within this species endemic to Himalaya-Hengduan Mountians, which give important insight into the conservation and maintenance of genetic resource in a global biodiversity “hotspot” region.