Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Populus ilicifolia

The whole chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of Populus ilicifolia has been characterized from Illumina pair-end sequencing. The complete cp genome was 158,017 bp in length, containing a large single copy region (LSC) of 85,926 bp and a small single copy region (SSC) of 16,533 bp, which were separated by a pair of 27,780 and 27,778 bp inverted repeat regions (IRs). The genome contained 126 genes, including 82 protein-coding genes (75 PCG species), 36 tRNA genes (29 tRNA species) and 8 ribosomal RNA genes (4 rRNA species). The most of gene species occur as a single copy, while 18 gene species occur in double copies. The overall AT content of P. ilicifolia cp genome is 63.5 %, while the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC and IR regions are 65.7, 69.4 and 58.2 %, respectively. Further, phylogenetic analysis suggested that P. ilicifolia is closely related to P. euphratica.