The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Populus davidiana, and a comparative analysis with other Populus species.

Populus davidiana plays an important ecological role in boreal and temperate forests, serving as wildlife habitats and watersheds. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of P. davidiana was characterized from Illumina pair-end sequencing. The chloroplast genome of P. davidiana was 155,325 bp in length, containing a large single-copy region (LSC) of 84,679 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 16,862 bp, and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,892 bp. The overall GC content is 36.80%, while the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 34.5%, 30.5%, and 42.5%, respectively. The genome contains 131 complete genes, including 86 protein-coding genes (62 protein-coding gene species), 37 tRNA genes (29 tRNA species), and 8 rRNA genes (4 rRNA species). The neighbour-joining phylogenetic analysis showed that P. davidiana and P. hopeiensis clustered together as sisters to other Populus species.