Deciphering the organelle genomes and transcriptomes of a common ornamental plant Ligustrum quihoui reveals multiple fragments of transposable elements in the mitogenome.

Abstract Ligustrum quihoui (L. quihoui) is an important hedge material for landscaping and also possesses medicinal value. To generate genomic resources for better understanding the evolutionary history of this important plant, the organelle genomes of L. quihoui are de novo assembled and functionally annotated. Compared with other Oleaceae species, the 163,069 bp chloroplast genome of L. quihoui exhibits a typical quadripartite structure with highly conserved gene content and gene order, while the 848,451 bp mitochondrial genome of L. quihoui exhibits highly divergent genome size and gene content. Codon usage analyses show that genes related with photosynthesis and mitochondrial respiratory chain show inconsistent codon biases. A total of 48,760 bp transposable elements (TEs) fragments and 41,887 bp chloroplast-like sequences are found in the L. quihoui mitochondrial genome. A striking discrepancy of RNA editing between the two organelle genomes is found in L. quihoui, in which 146 mitochondrial editing sites coexist with only 43 such sites in chloroplast. Based on DNA and RNA-Seq data, we propose that GTG may act as the start codon of mitochondrial rpl16 in Oleaceae species. Phylogenetic analysis based on chloroplast genome shows that L. quihoui and L. japonicum form a sister clade within the genus Ligustrum.