ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1620721
This article is part of the Research TopicEvolutionary Dynamics, Functional Variation and Application of Plant Organellar GenomeView all 23 articles
Comparative analysis of mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of Dracaena cambodiana from contrasting island habitats
Provisionally accepted
Heng Liang1
Xiuxiu Sun1Huasha Qi1Jiali Chen1Yidan Wang2
Moyang Liu3Chunmei Wang1
Tengfei Xia1
Shiling Feng1
Cheng Chen1
Daojun Zheng1*- 1Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China
- 2Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
- 3Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
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Introduction: Dracaena cambodiana, a vulnerable species widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, has been recognized as a model plant for studying island conservation biology due to its fragmented habitat, slow growth, and ecological sensitivity. However, its organelle genome evolution and population divergence across different island environments remain poorly understood.Method: In this study, we de novo assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast (cp) and mitochondrial (mt) genomes of two geographically distinct individuals of D. cambodiana from Hainan Island, China: a coastal area (SY) and a mountainous forest area (DF).Results: Both genomes showed conserved circular structures, but comparative analyses revealed key differences. The chloroplast genomes exhibited intergenic hotspot regions such as trnC-GCA-petN, trnL-UAA-trnF-GAA, and psaI-ycf4, which may serve as potential markers for taxonomy, population genetics, phylogeography and conservation biology of D. cambodiana. In the mitochondrial genomes, three genes (nad1, nad5, and rps11) showed the non-synonymous to synonymous substitution rate ratio (Ka/Ks) >1, indicating potential positive selection linked to environmental stress in the coastal population. Over 580 RNA editing sites were identified in each mitochondrial genome, with minor differences between DF and SY. These results suggest that while organelle genome structures are conserved, subtle molecular variations could potentially be associated with environmental differences between populations, although further investigation is needed to confirm adaptive significance. Conclusion: This study provides foundational genomic resources for understanding the adaptive evolution of D. cambodiana and supports conservation strategies in island ecosystems.
Keywords: Organelle genome, D. cambodiana, Comparative genomics, adaptive evolution, Genomic resources
Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Sun, Qi, Chen, Wang, Liu, Wang, Xia, Feng, Chen and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daojun Zheng, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China
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