Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence of Goosegrass (Eleusine indica) and Comparison with Other Poaceae.

Eleusine indica (2n = 2x = 18), commonly known as the weed goosegrass, is an annual, diploid, self-pollinating grass species in the Poaceae family. It is a serious weed in at least 42 countries. Whole chloroplast genome information has not yet been reported for any members of the Eleusine genus. Weed genomics study not only increases our understanding of the evolution of herbicide resistance, but also helps us to comprehend weed biology. Here, we report the complete chloroplast genome sequence of goosegrass, which was obtained using de novo assembly of paired-end and mate-paired reads generated by Illumina sequencing of total genomic DNA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the complete chloroplast genome sequence of goosegrass or any Eleusine species. The goosegrass chloroplast genome is a circular molecule of 135151 bp in length, consisting of two single-copy regions separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 20919 bases. The large (LSC) and the small (SSC) single-copy regions span 80667 bases and 12646 bases, respectively. In addition, the chloroplast genome of goosegrass has 38.19% GC content and includes 108 unique genes, of which 76 are protein-coding, 28 are transfer RNA, and 4 are ribosomal RNA. Compared with other eight representatives Poaceae chloroplast genomes, this genome has a relative small size, but the organization and gene content is highly similar.  Conserved with respect to Poaceae, this complete chloroplast genome information is useful for plant phylogenetic and evolutionary studies within this weed species. Besides, the discovery of tandem repeats in the chloroplast genome of E. indica will provide useful information for future phylogenetic and population genetics study in this genus.