ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Genetics, Epigenetics and Chromosome Biology
The mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of Lagerstroemia suprareticulata revealed a convergent genome morphology in genetic material evolution
Provisionally accepted
- 1Laboratory of Systematic Evolution and Biogeography of Woody Plants, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
- 2Guangxi Key Laboratory of Special Non-wood Forest Cultivation ＆ Utilization, Guangxi Laboratory of Forestry, Guangxi Forestry Research Institute, Nanning, China
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To investigate the mitochondrial genome characteristics and evolutionary dynamics of Lagerstroemia suprareticulata, we performed complete assembly and annotation of its mitochondrial genome, followed by comparative genomic analyses with related species. This research presents the initial comprehensive mitogenome of L. suprareticulata, a 364,645 bp independent single cyclic structure with a whole average GC content of 46.20%, twice the size of the chloroplast genome and an approximately similar tetrad structure. It comprised 62 functional genes and 386 open reading frames. Besides two long repeats above 800 bp, simple sequence repeat analysis revealed a predominance of mono-nucleotide and tetra-nucleotide repeats, which is consistent with patterns observed in most Lythraceae species. A total of 480 C-to-U RNA editing sites were predicted in 36 protein-coding genes, with the highest number in nad4. AUG and UGG had a relative synonymous codon usage value of 1, while GCU had the highest RSCU (1.62). ccmB and rps4 may have undergone positive selection, whereas atp8 and cox1 experienced strong purifying selection. Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes confirmed a close relationship between L. suprareticulata and L. indica. Collinear segments decreased with increasing evolutionary distance, and gene rearrangement analysis revealed a lineage-specific gene arrangement pattern in Lagerstroemia. Homologous sequence analysis identified 34 mitochondrial-chloroplast homologous sequences (accounting for 4.63% of the mitochondrial genome) and 2182 mitochondrial-nuclear homologous sequences. These results provide a foundation for understanding the mitochondrial genome evolution of Lagerstroemia and Lythraceae, and may offer valuable genetic resources for horticultural and evolutionary studies.
Keywords: evolution, horizontal gene transfer, Lagerstroemia, Mitochondrial Genome, Structure evolution
Received: 15 Nov 2025; Accepted: 11 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Qin, Huang, Rihong, Huang, Sun, Li and Zhang. 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: Gangmin Zhang
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