Characterization of the Complete Chloroplast Genome of Meconopsis punicea (Papaveraceae), an Endemic Species from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China

Meconopsis punicea Maxim. (Papaveraceae) is an alpine perennial herb endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in southwestern China. In this study, we sequenced and analyzed its whole chloroplast genome using an Illumina HiSeq platform. This represents the second complete chloroplast genome for a species of Meconopsis after the recent publication of a first one (M. racemosa) in 2018. Our result shows that the chloroplast genome of M. punicea is 153 260 bp in length with a relatively high A + T content (61.5%), and has a standard quadripartite structure with the large (LSC, 84 122 bp) and small (SSC, 17 730 bp) single copy regions separated by two copies of an inverted repeat (IRs, 25 704 bp each). The chloroplast genome encodes a total of 110 genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 29 tRNAs genes and three rRNAs genes. The majority (94) of genes occur within the single copy regions. When comparing these results to the previously published chloroplast genome of M. racemosa, both species share similar gene type, number and G + C content. In addition, the maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis based on 33 chloroplast genomes suggested that M. punicea is basal in the Meconopsis clade within Papaveraceae.