The complete chloroplast genome of Prunus armeniaca

Here we assembled the complete chloroplast genome sequence of thirteen apricots (Prunus armeniaca L.) cultivars using high-throughput sequencing data produced by Illumina technology. The genome is a circular molecule of 158,138 bp and consisted of two inverted repeat regions of 26,394 bp, separated by large (LSC, 85,861 bp) and small (SSC 19,063 bp) single copy regions. The annotation analysis of chloroplast genomes revealed apricot chloroplast genomes consist of 131 genes, including 81 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. The GC content was 36.2%, and coding regions accounted for 52.7% of the genome. We determined polymorphic sides among 13 apricot accessions, and 18 polymorphic sides were identified in only chloroplast genome of 'Zard'. Chloroplast genome sequences are valuable for understanding plant evolution and phylogeny. Our results will be useful for the future studies in genetic variation of Prunus.