The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Michelia balansae var. balansae (Aug. Candolle) Dandy, a timber and spices species in Magnoliaceae.

Michelia balansae var. balansae (Aug. Candolle) Dandy is a timber and spices species in Magnoliaceae, native to China and Vietnam. In this paper, the complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) and basic annotated information were reported and its phylogenetic relationship with other species in Magnoliaceae was analyzed. The size of chloroplast genome of M. balansae var. balansae is 160,134 bp, which exhibited a typical quadripartite structure comprising a large single-copy (LSC) region of 88,161 bp and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,845 bp separated by a pair identical inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 26,564 bp each. The chloroplast genome contains 131 genes, including 86 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that M. balansae var. balansae is most affinal to M. montana and they form a nomophyletic group with other 14 Michelia species. This Michelia clade is sister to the Aromadendron clade with high support. All genera mentioned in this analysis are nomophyletic under the system of Magnoliaceae by Sima and Lu.