Decoding Acorus verus: Chloroplast Genome Insights into a Key Medicinal Resource from Guangxi, Southern China

Acorus verus (A. verus), an important medicinal plant with increasing interest in genomic characterization, relies on genomic research to improve its germplasm and industrial applications.

To fill the gap in chloroplast genome data for this species in Guangxi, China, this study sequenced and annotated its chloroplast genome.

The research analyzed structural features, codon usage, simple sequence repeats, Inverted Repeat Region boundaries, and phylogenetic relationships. The results indicated that the chloroplast genome of A. verus from Guangxi has a total length of 152,784 bp, exhibiting a typical cyclic tetrad structure. The GC content was 38.74%, with 129 annotated genes: 83 protein-coding, 38 tRNA, and 8 rRNA genes. Codon preference analysis identified 30 high-frequency codons, mostly ending in A/T (72.3%). There were 89 SSR sites, with 73% being single-nucleotide repeats favoring AT bases. Several variable regions were identified, including psbM-trnD-GUC in the Large Single-Copy Region (LSC) and ndhF-rpl32 in the Small Single-Copy Region (SSC) suggesting their potential as candidate loci for future molecular identification and provenance studies. Phylogenetic analysis placed the Guangxi accession within the A. verus lineage, closely related to the Yunnan and Fujian accessions.

This study provides the first chloroplast genome resource for A. verus from Guangxi and establishes a reference for accession authentication, comparative plastome analysis, germplasm evaluation, and sustainable utilization of this regional medicinal resource (PZ698195).