Complete chloroplast genomes and comparative analyses of two species of Lagochilus (Lamiaceae) in Uzbekistan
Annotatsiya
DNA sequences data of full chloroplast genomes provide various genetic information and contribute to clarifying the evolutionary relationships among species and expands the understanding of plant diversity. This study presents the first complete chloroplast genome sequences of Lagochilus vvedenskyi and Lagochilus seravschanicus , two endemic species from Uzbekistan, and provides a comparative genomic analysis with Lagochilus ilicifolius . The circular chloroplast genomes exhibited the typical quadripartite structure, with sizes ranging from 151,159 to 151,500 bp, and contained 133 annotated genes, including 88 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. Comparative analysis revealed highly conserved genome structures among the species, although minor differences were observed at the IR boundary regions. The GC content across the genomes was 38.6%, with higher GC proportions within the IR regions. A total of 212–216 SSRs were detected with mononucleotide A/T repeats being dominant, predominantly location were found in the LSC region. A total of 50 long-repeat sequences containing forward, palindromic, reverse repeats were identified, predominantly 20–29 bp in size. Codon usage analysis showed similar patterns among the species, with a preference for codons ending in A or U. Sliding window analysis of nucleotide diversity (Pi) detected six highly variable regions ( matK-rps16, rps16-psbK, trnT-psbD, trnL- trnF, rpl32-trnL, ycf1 ), proposed as potential molecular markers for future phylogenetic and conservation studies. Phylogenetic analyses based on 24 Lamiaceae chloroplast genomes confirmed the close relationship of Lagochilus species with Leonurus and Phlomoides , supporting their classification within the tribe Leonureae. This study provides new genetic information for Lagochilus and contributes valuable insights into the evolution and taxonomy of the Lamiaceae family.