Molecular structure and phylogenetic analyses of the complete chloroplast genomes of three original species of Pyrrosiae Folium

Pyrrosia petiolosa, Pyrrosia lingua and Pyrrosia sheareri are recorded as original plants of Pyrrosiae Folium (PF) and commonly used as Chinese herbal medicines. Due to the similar morphological features of PF and its adulterants, common DNA barcodes cannot accurately distinguish PF species. Knowledge of the chloroplast (cp) genome is widely used in species identification, molecular marker and phylogenetic analyses. Herein, we determined the complete cp genomes of three original species of PF via high-throughput sequencing technologies. The three cp genomes exhibited a typical quadripartite structure with sizes ranging from 158 165 to 163 026 bp. The cp genomes of P. petiolosa and P. lingua encoded 130 genes, whilst that of P. sheareri encoded 131 genes. The complete cp genomes were compared, and five highly divergent regions of petA-psbJ, matK-rps16, ndhC-trnM, psbM-petN and psaC-ndhE were screened as potential DNA barcodes for identification of Pyrrosia genus species. The phylogenetic tree we obtained indicated that P. petiolosa and P. lingua are clustered in a single clade and, thus, share a close relationship. This study provides invaluable information for further studies on the species identification, taxonomy and phylogeny of Pyrrosia genus species.