Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Actinidia melliana (Actinidiaceae)

Actinidia melliana is a unique Actinidia species whose genomic data is extremely lacking. In this study, we reported the complete chloroplast genome of A. melliana for the first time, which has a total length of 156,159 bp, consisting of a large single-copy (LSC) region of 90,525 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 20,578 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions with 22,528 bp each. A total of 133 genes were annotated, including 84 protein-coding genes, 41 transfer RNA genes (tRNA) and 8 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA). Phylogenetic analysis alongside 28 other species in the Actinidiaceae family revealed that A. melliana is most closely related to A. cylindrica var. cylindrica. This study provides new genetic resources for evolutionary studies of Actinidia and supports future efforts in species identification and conservation within the genus.