Mitochondrial Genome of Curcuma kwangsiensis Reveals a Dynamic Multi-chromosomal Structure and Extensive RNA Editing

Abstract The mitochondrial genome of Curcuma kwangsiensis , a medicinally significant species, has not been previously reported. In this study, we performed the first assembly of its mitochondrial genome based on a hybrid sequencing approach combining Illumina short-read and Nanopore long-read data. The assembled genome exhibits a multi-branching structure composed of 12 circular contigs, with a total length of 7,764,583 bp and a GC content of 43.90%. Annotation identified 39 distinct protein-coding genes, 30 transfer RNA genes, and 3 ribosomal RNA genes. Comparative synteny analysis revealed considerable structural reorganization relative to the mitochondrial genomes of two related species, C. wenyujin and C. phaeocaulis , indicating that mitogenomic architecture is not conserved within Zingiberaceae. In addition, RNA editing predictions using Deepred-mt and REDItools identified 531 and 652 cytosine-to-uracil(C-to-U) editing sites, respectively. This work provides the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence for C. kwangsiensis , sheds light on its structural evolution and RNA editing profile, and establishes a genomic foundation for further investigations into mitochondrial function in this species.