Complete chloroplast genome of Atriplex taltalensis (Amaranthaceae), an endangered endemic species from the Chilean Atacama Desert
4 affiliations
- 1Agroenergía Ingeniería Genética S.A. Inc.
- 2School of Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Chile
- 3Bionostra Chile Research Foundation
- 4Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Chile
Abstract
Background: Atriplex taltalensis is an endangered halophytic species endemic to the Chilean Atacama Desert, for which genomic resources are currently lacking. Complete chloroplast genomes provide valuable resources for comparative genomics, phylogenetics, and conservation genetics because of their conserved structure and informative evolutionary patterns. This study aimed to assemble and characterize the first complete chloroplast genome of A. taltalensis and compare it with representative Atriplex plastomes.
Results: The complete chloroplast genome of A. taltalensis was a circular molecule of 150, 919 bp with the typical quadripartite structure, comprising a large single-copy region, a small single-copy region, and two inverted repeats. The plastome encoded 130 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNAs, and 8 rRNAs, with an overall GC content of 37.29%. Comparative analyses of 15 Atriplex plastomes revealed high conservation of genome organization and gene content, together with high sequence similarity, whereas nucleotide variation was concentrated in a limited number of intergenic regions and a few coding genes. Hypervariable loci, simple sequence repeats, and long repeats were identified as potential candidates for informative molecular markers. Most protein-coding genes showed Ka/Ks ratios consistent with strong functional constraint, while a limited number of genes exhibited elevated pairwise Ka/Ks ratios in specific comparisons. Phylogenomic reconstruction based on complete plastomes recovered well-supported plastome relationships within Atriplex , supporting their utility for resolving relationships among closely related taxa.
Conclusions: This study provides the first complete chloroplast genome sequence of A. taltalensis and establishes a valuable genomic resource for comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and conservation genetics.
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BibTeX
@article{pena2026complete,
title = {{Complete chloroplast genome of Atriplex taltalensis (Amaranthaceae), an endangered endemic species from the Chilean Atacama Desert}},
author = {Francisca Peña and Antü Salas-Tarque-Huanca and Luciano Univaso and Celián Román-Figueroa and Manuel Paneque},
journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpls.2026.1975705},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1975705/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Complete chloroplast genome of Atriplex taltalensis (Amaranthaceae), an endangered endemic species from the Chilean Atacama Desert
AU - Francisca Peña
AU - Antü Salas-Tarque-Huanca
AU - Luciano Univaso
AU - Celián Román-Figueroa
AU - Manuel Paneque
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2026.1975705
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1975705/full
AB - Background: Atriplex taltalensis is an endangered halophytic species endemic to the Chilean Atacama Desert, for which genomic resources are currently lacking. Complete chloroplast genomes provide valuable resources for comparative genomics, phylogenetics, and conservation genetics because of their conserved structure and informative evolutionary patterns. This study aimed to assemble and characterize the first complete chloroplast genome of A. taltalensis and compare it with representative Atriplex plastomes. Results: The complete chloroplast genome of A. taltalensis was a circular molecule of 150, 919 bp with the typical quadripartite structure, comprising a large single-copy region, a small single-copy region, and two inverted repeats. The plastome encoded 130 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNAs, and 8 rRNAs, with an overall GC content of 37.29%. Comparative analyses of 15 Atriplex plastomes revealed high conservation of genome organization and gene content, together with high sequence similarity, whereas nucleotide variation was concentrated in a limited number of intergenic regions and a few coding genes. Hypervariable loci, simple sequence repeats, and long repeats were identified as potential candidates for informative molecular markers. Most protein-coding genes showed Ka/Ks ratios consistent with strong functional constraint, while a limited number of genes exhibited elevated pairwise Ka/Ks ratios in specific comparisons. Phylogenomic reconstruction based on complete plastomes recovered well-supported plastome relationships within Atriplex , supporting their utility for resolving relationships among closely related taxa. Conclusions: This study provides the first complete chloroplast genome sequence of A. taltalensis and establishes a valuable genomic resource for comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and conservation genetics.
SN - 1664-462X
ER -