Assembly of 23 Plastid Genomes Provides the Chloroplast View on Miscanthus Origins

Abstract Despite its economic importance as a new biofuel resource, little work has been done on the large-scale phylogenetics of Miscanthus . Twenty-three complete Miscanthus chloroplasts were assembled and annotated. A phylogeny was performed with these assemblies, which shows the relationships between the main Miscanthus species and sub-species. The phylogeny demonstrates that there is no meaningful distinction between Miscanthus floridulus and Miscanthus transmorrisonensis as the accessions are not distinct. However, at the crown of the tree there is a clear distinction between M. sinensis malepartus and M. sinensis condensatus subspecies. The phylogeny reaveals that the female parent of Miscanthus xgiganteus is Miscanthus lutarioriparius rather than Miscanthus sacchariflorus . The phylogeny also shows a novel hybrid between Miscanthus oligostachyus and Miscanthus sinensis , a grouping to which Miscanthus sinensis var Purpurascens belongs. This hybrid form is named Miscanthus × oligostachyus .