Pergularia tomentosa is a medicinal plant mainly found in Saudi Arabia, northern and southern Africa. In this study, we present the sequence of the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of P. tomentosa in order to evaluate the evolutionary relationship in the subfamily Asclepiadoideae. The cp is 164,213 bp in lengh with 37.3% GC content, inverted repeat (IR) regions of 21,411 bp each, a large single-copy (LSC) region of 80,102 bp, and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 17,022 bp. It constitutes of 89 protien-coding genes, 44 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic relationship showed close relationship between P. tomentosa and other Asclepiadeae members with Marsedineae subtribe. The study will help for future research on evolutionary studies of Apoceanaceae.

In this study, we present the complete chloroplast genome of Dipterygium glaucum an important medicinal plant in Saudi Arabia, in order to evaluate the evolutionary relationship in the family Cleomaceae. The cp genome is second to be sequenced in Cleomaceae family, it has a circular structure and a length of 158,576 bp with 35.74% GC content. The genome is divided into four regions: LSC of 87,738 bp, SSC of 18,420 bp and a pair of inverted repeats 26,209 bp each. The chloroplast genome of D. glaucum encodes 116 different genes, including 81protien coding genes, 31tRNA genes and four rRNA genes. The phylogenetic relationship showed a close relationship between D. glaucum and Tarenaia hassleriana.

We studied the complete chloroplast genome of Gomphocarpus siniacus and Duvalia velutina from Asclepiadoideae subfamily; due to their medicinal importance and distribution worldwide their interest became high. In this study we analyzed the complete chloroplast genomes of G. siniacus and D. velutina using Illumina sequencing technology. The sequences were compared with the other species from Apocynaceae family. The complete genome of G. siniacus is 162,570 bp while D. velutina has154, 478 bp in length. Both genomes consist of 119 genes; encode 31 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. Comparative studies of the two genomes showed variations in SSR markers in which G. siniacus possesses 223 while D. velutina has 186. This could be used for barcoding in order to aid in easy identification of the species. Phylogenetic analysis on the other hand reaffirms the tribal position of G. siniacus in Asclepiadeae and D. velutina in Ceropegieae. These findings could be used in subsequent research studies of angiosperms identification, genetic engineering, herb genomics and phylogenomic studies of Apocynaceae family.

Background: Comparative study of the complete chloroplast genomes of some species in the Subtribe Asclepiadeae was conducted to evaluate the variations and similarities between the species and to resolve the phylogenetic relationship within the subtribe. P. tomentosa has been used for medicinal uses in Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Africa and Brazil. It is used often in cosmetics and tanning industries, although it’s very well utilized as a traditional medicine in many civilizations. Methods: The genomes were compared using Mvista Bioinformatics tools to evaluate the inverted repeats (IR), large single copy (LSC) and small single copy (SSC) regions and also the border junctions were visualized with IR scope to express the expansion and contraction of the circular genome structure. While SSR markers were determined using the Reputer program, the genome map was done using OGDRAW (OrganellarGenomeDRAW). Result: Observed variations of the Mvista alignments is mainly at the coding regions of the sequences, while IR borders were varied at the SSC region of A. nivea genome; with ycf1 and rps19 due to evolutionary events. The genome sizes of C. procera are 166,010 bp, P. tomentosa 164,213bp, A. nivea 161,592 bp and C. wilfordii 161,180 bp. GC contents of A. nivea, C. wilfordii and P. tomentosa are 38% respectively; while C. procera is the least with 37%.; total SSR markers as well as the circular genome map were presented in this study.