The complete chloroplast genome of tulip tree, Liriodendron tulifipera L. (Magnoliaceae): investigation of intra-species chloroplast variations.

Liriodendron tulifipera L. belongs to Magnoliaceae which is one of the basal angiosperm families. To understand intra-species variations on chloroplast genome in Liriodendron genus, we presented complete chloroplast genome of L. tulifipera, which is 156,387 bp long and has four subregions: 85,606 bp of large single copy (LSC) and 18,778 bp of small single copy (SSC) regions are separated by 26,002 bp of inverted repeat (IR) regions including 129 genes (84 coding genes, 8 rRNAs, and 37 tRNAs). The overall GC content of the chloroplast genome is 37.0% and those in the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 34.9%, 30.5%, and 42.8%, respectively. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in one region and one insertion and deletion are found between two L. tulifipera genomes. INDEL Phylogenetic trees show that two L. tulifipera chloroplasts are clustered together and are sister to Magnolia species.