The complete chloroplast genome and phylogenomic analysis of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis cultivar ‘Liupao’, a landrace from Guangxi, China

Abstract

Liupao tea is one of the well-known Chinese tea brands and a famous local specialty in Wuzhou, Guangxi, China. However, the genetic background and phylogenetic relationship of the native resource plants of Liupao tea need study, especially at the genomic level. In this study, we reported the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of Camellia sinensis var. sinensis cultivar ‘Liupao’ (LP, Liupao tea population) and inferred its phylogenetic relationship to other tea plant variants or cultivars. The cp genome had a total length of 157,097 bp and the overall GC content was 37.3%. The cp genome contained one LSC region (86,641 bp) and one SSC region (18,276 bp), which were separated by two IR regions (26,090 bp, respectively). Moreover, the cp genomes were composed of 130 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis showed that LP was closely related to C. sinensis var. pabilimba cv. ‘Lingyunbaihao’. This study will provide useful information for further investigating the genetic background, evolution, and breeding of LP as well as other tea cultivars and varieties.

Keywords:

• Camellia sinensis
• chloroplast genome
• Liupao tea
• phylogeny

Author contributions

Yan-ni Liang: collected materials, prepared for sequencing, and wrote the manuscript. Hong Li and Xi-yang Huang: performed the data analyses. Yue-jing Bin and Yu-mei Zhen: conducted the experiment. Xin-mei Qin: conceived the work and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to publish the manuscript.

Ethical statement

The samples used in this study were planted by a tea farmer and have received permission for sample collection from the tea farmer.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The genome sequence data that support the findings of this study are openly available in GenBank of NCBI at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ under the accession no. OQ281601. The associated BioProject, SRA, and BioSample numbers are PRJNA924054, SRR23093613 and SAMN32745220, respectively.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Project [2023GXNSFAA026221], Guangxi Innovation-Driven Development Special Fund Project [AA20302018-1], Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain [22-035-26], Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Phytochemicals and Sustainable Utilization [FPRU2020-4], Guangxi Central Guiding development of local science and technology [ZY21195056].