ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Genetics, Epigenetics and Chromosome Biology
Characteristic Analysis of the Chloroplast Genome of Cyathula capitata and Comparative Analysis with Cyathula officinalis and Their Hybrid Cyathula officinalis × Cyathula capitata
Provisionally accepted
- 1NMPA Key Laboratory for Quality Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Patent Medicine, Sichuan Institute for Drug Control, Chengdu 611731, China, Chengdu, China
- 2Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine School of Pharmacy, Chengdu, China
- 3Leshan Normal University, Leshan, China
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This study characterized the chloroplast genomes of Cyathula capitata, C. officinalis, and their hybrid to assess genomic variation and clarify phylogenetic relationships. Using second-generation sequencing and comparative genomics, we analyzed genome structure, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), codon usage, and inverted repeat (IR) boundaries, and reconstructed a phylogeny based on chloroplast sequences. All three taxa displayed typical quadripartite chloroplast genomes. C. capitata exhibited intraspecific length variation (151,428–151,436 bp) likely linked to geography, whereas C. officinalis was more conserved (151,518 bp). Species-specific markers included hexanucleotide SSRs, a 16-bp insertion in rpl22, and a 30–40 bp forward repeat in the *rps16_1–trnQ-UUG* region. Codon usage showed a preference for thymine endings without strong third-position bias. IR boundaries varied only in certain C. capitata samples. Comparative analysis identified psbI–trnS-GCU and *rps16_1–trnQ-UUG* as highly variable regions. Phylogenetically, the hybrid clustered with C. capitata, supporting maternal chloroplast inheritance。These findings provide molecular tools for authenticating Cyathula species and hybrids, informing genetic resource management and sustainable use of these medicinal plants.
Keywords: Chloroplast genome, Cyathula capitata, Cyathula officinalis, phylogenetic analysis, Sequence characteristic
Received: 22 Dec 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Gao, Zeng, Tang, Yuan, Deng, Gou and Jiang. 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:
Yan Gou
Guihua Jiang
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