Wang Wenting et al.
Laportea bulbifera, a Miao medicine grown in karst areas, has exerts a unique curative effect on skin itching in the elderly, with an annual sales of > 100 million Yuan. Owing to the shortage of resources and large morphological variations in L. bulbifera, it is difficult to identify the species correctly using only traditional methods, which seriously affects the safety of drug usage for patients. This study obtained the complete high-quality L. bulbifera chloroplast (cp) genome, using second- and third-generation highthroughput sequencing. The cp genome was 149,911 bp in length, with a typical quadripartite structure. A total of 127 genes were annotated, including 83 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. There was an inverted small single copy (SSC) structure in the L. bulbifera cp genome, one large-scale rearrangement of ~ 39 kb excised in the SSC and IR regions. The complete cp genome sequence used as a super-barcode and the highly variable regions (ycf1, matK, and ndhD), especially matK, can be used as specific barcodes to accurately distinguish L. bulbifera from counterfeits and closely related species. This study is important for the identification of L. bulbifera and lays a theoretical foundation for elucidating the phylogenetic relationship of the species
