Abstract
Passiflora tripartita var. mollissima, known locally as poro-poro, is an important native fruit used in traditional Peruvian medicine with relevant agro-industrial and pharmaceutical potential for its antioxidant capacity for human health. However, to date, only a few genetic data are available, which limits exploring its genetic diversity and developing new genetic studies for its improvement. We report the poro-poro plastid genome to expand the knowledge of its molecular markers, evolutionary studies, molecular pathways, and conservation genetics. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome is 163,451 bp in length with a typical quadripartite structure, containing a large single-copy region of 85,525 bp and a small single-copy region of 13,518 bp, separated by a pair of inverted repeat regions (IR) of 32,204 bp, and the overall GC content was 36.87%. This cp genome contains 128 genes (110 genes were unique and 18 genes were found duplicated in each IR region), including 84 protein-coding genes, 36 transfer RNA-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA-coding genes, and 13 genes with introns (11 genes with one intron and two genes with two introns). The inverted repeat region boundaries among species were similar in organization, gene order, and content, with a few revisions. The phylogenetic tree reconstructed based on single-copy orthologous genes and maximum likelihood analysis demonstrates poro-poro is most closely related to Passiflora menispermifolia and Passiflora oerstedii. In summary, our study constitutes a valuable resource for studying molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and domestication. It also provides a powerful foundation for conservation genetics research and plant breeding programs. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the plastid genome of Passiflora tripartita var. mollissima from Peru.
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