Abstract

Symphoricarpos sinensis is an important ornamental plant in China. Due to the lack of efficient molecular markers, although recent studies supported that Symphoricarpos was phylogenetically closely related to Lonicera, Triosteum, Heptacodium, and Leycesteria, relationships among these taxa remained uncertain. To examine the phylogenetic position of Symphoricarpos within Caprifoliaceae, we characterized the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of S. sinensis. The results showed that S. sinensis shared a typical quadripartite structure as with most angiosperms. It was 155,738 bp in length, including two inverted repeat (IR) regions (24,010 bp), a small single-copy (SSC) region (18,942 bp) and a large single-copy (LSC) region (88,776 bp). Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that Caprifoliaceae and Adoxaceae formed two distinct monophyletic clades, and S. sinensis was closely related to lonicera and Triosteum, albeit with low support. The whole cp genome of S. sinensis will be useful resources for future studies on phylogeny and conservation in Symphoricarpos.