Characterization and comparative analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Aucklandia lappa Decne

BACKGROUND: Aucklandia lappa Decne, a precious medicinal herb in China, utilises the dried rhizome as its medicinal part, which riches in volatile oils, sesquiterpene compounds and other active constituents. Although the mitogenome of A. lappa has been assembled, related research remains in its preliminary stages, far from achieving comprehensive and in-depth understanding. RESULTS: In this paper, the complete mitogenome of A. lappa was assembled by employing a hybrid strategy that combined Illumina short-read and Nanopore long-read sequencing. The assembled mitogenome is 436,648 bp in size with a GC content of 45.06%. The mitogenome has only one chromosomal structure, It contains 54 genes, including 31 protein-coding genes(PCG), 19 tRNA genes, and 4 rRNA genes. A total of 32 high-frequency codons exhibiting significant AT-bias, 431 RNA editing sites, and 26 homologous fragments were transferred from the chloroplast to mitochondria genes (7,337 bp, 1.68%). Furthermore, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis involving in A. lappa and 27 other taxa to clarify its evolutionary and taxonomic status. These findings provide a foundation for further understanding the evolutionary relationships within Asteraceae plant. CONCLUSION: Through the assembly and comprehensive analysis of A. lappa mitogenome, This study has for the first time fully elucidated its mitogenomic structural characteristics.These results not only provide high-quality genetic resources for research on the Asteraceae mitogenome but also lay a solid foundation for in-depth exploration of the evolution and functional genomics of medicinal plants in the Asteraceae family.