The complete chloroplast genome sequence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Glycyrrhiza lepidota</Emphasis> (Nutt.) Pursh - An American wild licorice

The wild species are considered as primary and secondary genepools for the world’s most important food crops. Here, we sequenced the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of an American wild licorice, Glycyrrhiza lepidota for the first time to investigate their phylogenetic relationship among inverted-repeat-lacking clade (IRLC) legumes. The total length of the chloroplast genome is 127,939 bp, with 34.2% overall GC content. The chloroplast genome harbors 110 known genes, including 76 protein-coding genes, four ribosomal RNA genes, and 30 tRNA genes. Similar to other closely related plastomes, rpl22 and rps16 are absent. A total of 464 cp microsatellites (cpSSRs) were analyzed in the G. lepidota. The majority of the SSRs in this cp genome are penta-nucleotides (61.6%). Locally collinear blocks (LCBs) identified between the Glycyrrhiza glabra and G. lepidota cp genomes were showed that they were well conserved with respect to gene organization and order. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis indicates that G. lepidota is closely related to its confamilial counterparts than to the other taxa of the IRLC legumes.