Dynamic Chloroplast Genome Rearrangement and DNA Barcoding for Three Apiaceae Species Known as the Medicinal Herb "Bang-Poong".

Three Apiaceae species , , and are used as Asian herbal medicines, with the confusingly similar common name "Bang-poong". We characterized the complete chloroplast (cp) genomes and 45S nuclear ribosomal DNA (45S nrDNA) sequences of two accessions for each species. The complete cp genomes of , , and were 147,467, 147,830, and 164,633 bp, respectively. Compared to the other species, the cp genome had a huge inverted repeat expansion and a segmental inversion. The 45S nrDNA cistron sequences of the three species were almost identical in size and structure. Despite the structural variation in the cp genome, phylogenetic analysis revealed that diverged 5-6 million years ago (Mya), while diverged from only 2-3 Mya. Abundant copy number variations including tandem repeats, insertion/deletions, and single nucleotide polymorphisms, were found at the interspecies level. Intraspecies-level polymorphism was also found for and . We developed nine PCR barcode markers to authenticate all three species. This study characterizes the genomic differences between , , and ; provides a method of species identification; and sheds light on the evolutionary history of these three species.