Complete Chloroplast Genome of Abutilon fruticosum: Genome Structure, Comparative and Phylogenetic Analysis

Abutilon fruticosum is one of the endemic plants with high medicinal and economic value in Saudi Arabia and belongs to the family Malvaceae. However, the plastome sequence and phylogenetic position have not been reported until this study. In this research, the complete chloroplast genome of A. fruticosum was sequenced and assembled, and comparative and phylogenetic analyses within the Malvaceae family were conducted. The chloroplast genome (cp genome) has a circular and quadripartite structure with a total length of 160,357 bp and contains 114 unique genes (80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes). The repeat analyses indicate that all the types of repeats (palindromic, complement, forward and reverse) were present in the genome, with palindromic occurring more frequently. A total number of 212 microsatellites were identified in the plastome, of which the majority are mononucleotides. Comparative analyses with other species of Malvaceae indicate a high level of resemblance in gene content and structural organization and a significant level of variation in the position of genes in single copy and inverted repeat borders. The analyses also reveal variable hotspots in the genomes that can serve as barcodes and tools for inferring phylogenetic relationships in the family: the regions include trnH-psbA, trnK-rps16, psbI-trnS, atpH-atpI, trnT-trnL, matK, ycf1 and ndhH. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that A. fruticosum is closely related to Althaea officinalis, which disagrees with the previous systematic position of the species. This study provides insights into the systematic position of A. fruticosum and valuable resources for further phylogenetic and evolutionary studies of the species and the Malvaceae family to resolve ambiguous issues within the taxa.